


(the drum beats) out of time

by Anonymous



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alpha Jack Zimmermann, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Omega Kent Parson, Or Maybe It's A Reignition, Past Character Death, Slow Burn, Younger Kent Parson, talk of mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:20:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21977971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Kent stood up, knocking over the chair he had been sitting in. "I have no idea how I got here. You two are obviously worried about something so much that you two have to call Jack which why would you do that since you know we only just barely started talking again."If you are worried about the Past Character Death tag, please read the notes at the beginning.By: kentparsonandhisboyfriends
Relationships: Kent "Parse" Parson/Jack Zimmermann
Comments: 88
Kudos: 126
Collections: Kent Parson and His Boyfriends





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Past Character Death tag is in regards to Kent. Canon Kent is dropped into another universe where a different version of him is dead. I don't want to give anything else away, but if you're worried about it, message me on tumblr and I'll answer any questions you may have. 
> 
> Enjoy.

The sun was shining directly on his face when Kent finally woke up and that should have been the first sign that something was not right. He opened his eyes, stretched, and looked around, confused. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in a hotel room in Montreal. When he woke up, he was in a car.

Right outside of the Zimmermann residence.

He didn't remember leaving the hotel after getting back after the game where they won in overtime. And he definitely didn't remember renting the car he had woken up in. He had no idea why he would’ve had the urge to drive all the way to the Zimmermann’s place. Especially since he'd already seen Alicia and Bob the night before. He had no need to see them again. At least he had the presence of mind to go somewhere safe.

Kent looked around the car for his phone so he could call his coach and found nothing. He must have left it in the hotel. He got out of the car, headed to the front door, and rang the doorbell. He was glad the Zimmermanns were home. Their driveway still had all of their cars parked in it. He slid his hands into his pockets and waited. As he did, he looked around at the outside of the home. There were a few changes from the last time he was there more than a year ago. He found himself starting at the bush that was right under the doorbell. It had almost doubled in size from the last time.

He was reaching for a flower when the door opened. He quickly stood up and smiled, giving Alicia an awkward wave. "Hi, Alicia. Sorry for this. I don't really know how I ended up here but I was wondering if I could use your phone? I gotta call the Aces or something and let them know where I ended up."

"Kent?" Alicia asked, staring at him. "H-how?"

Alicia looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Is it early?" Kent asked. "I don't really know what time it is. I could've checked. I should've. But I don't want the team to worry, you know?" They were supposed to be flying to New York that morning. He was sure that he’d already missed that flight. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair. "I--"

He was interrupted when Alicia pulled him in for a hug and squeezed him as hard as she could. "Kent,” she said softly before tightening her hold just a bit. “Oh my god, you're really here."

Kent let out a nervous laugh. "Y-yeah? Of course I'm here. You saw me play last night. And we had dinner the night before that. Although, your hair looks longer? When did you have time to get extensions put in? Is it for a role?” He didn't try to move away from her because, although the hug was a little tight, it felt nice to be held.

"You're real," she said softly.

Kent chose to ignore that for a second. "Alicia?" he replied in the same volume.

"Right," she said. She pulled back and looked at Kent. She reached up with both of her hands to cup his cheeks. "Sorry."

Kent saw tears forming in Alicia's eyes. The next time she blinked they'd start rolling down her cheeks. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said reassuringly. He hated seeing Alicia cry. "I love your hugs."

Then the tears started to fall. She let go of Kent's face to wipe her cheeks dry. "I love hugging you," she said softly as her throat was tightening from emotion. "Why don't we--"

"Alicia. You're omelet's getting cold. Who's at the..." Bob's voice trailed off as he saw who was standing there. "Kent?" he said, dropping the egg covered spatula he had been holding. He immediately rushed over and pulled Kent into a hug. He looked over at his wife. "How?"

"I don't know," Alicia said, her voice a little stronger than it was a few minutes ago.

Bob’s hug tightened on Kent. He leaned in and inhaled his scent before slowly letting it out. "What. What do we do?" he asked.

"About?" Kent asked into Bob's chest. The man still hadn't let him go.

Bob moved his hand to the back of Kent's head and just held him. "We... we should call Jack," he said softly. “We need to.”

"What?" Kent asked. As nice as Bob's hug was, Kent did not want them to call Jack over something stupid like this. He stepped back from Bob. "You don't need to do that," he said. "I just need a phone. And I have to make a flight back to Las Vegas." He was not going to make the game tomorrow, and his coaches would’ve probably rather had him back home instead of trying to catch them on this roadie.

"You can't do that," Alicia said, stepping forward. She put her hand on Kent's forearm and just squeezed. "Honey, you can't."

"What? Why?"

Alicia reached up and brushed her fingers through Kent's cowlick. "You just... you can't." She looked at Bob and nodded. "Why don't we get some food in you? We can figure out how. What to do next." She moved her hand to cup his cheek again. "We just need to take a breath." She looked at her husband. "Go call Jack. He needs to be here."

"Do you think that's wise?" Bob asked. "What if this... isn't real?"

"It feels real, Bob," Alicia continued as if Kent wasn’t standing right there. "Go. Call him. I'll get Kent settled."

Kent sighed softly, letting Alicia just coddle him. "I can't take too long, though. Swoops might be worried." He reached up and scratched the back of his head. "I'm kind of worried about how I ended up here."

"So are we, honey," Alicia said. She slid her arm around Kent's and led him into the kitchen.

"I feel like I'm missing a lot of things," Kent said. "Like, why are you two so worried since I saw you a few days ago?"

"Food first, Kent. Then we can piece together what happened."

"Okay," Kent said with a nod, letting Alicia lead him. "But. Do we really need to call Jack?"

"Yes," Alicia answered without hesitation.

"Okay," Kent said with a sigh. This was a fight he wasn't going to win. "Bob said something about omelets?"

"Sure thing, sweetie," Alicia said. "Just wait here, okay?" she said leaving him at the entrance to the kitchen. She headed back into the living room and grabbed a large couch cushion. She returned and set the pillow on the floor next to one of the chairs. "Why don't you relax, okay? We'll make you your favorite."

"Thanks," Kent said. He walked over and stared at the pillow for a second before pulling out a chair and sitting down.

Alicia sucked in a breath when she saw Kent take a seat.

Bob walked into the kitchen with his cell phone in his hand. He stared for a moment when he saw Kent sitting in the chair. He looked back and forth between the chair and the cushion on the floor. He looked to Alicia who just shook her head ever so slightly as though to tell him not to mention it. At least for right now.

Bob then dialed Jack's number, holding the phone to his ear. He stared at Kent as he waited for his son to pick up. He began pacing as the phone rang. He sighed as there wasn't an answer. He immediately dialed again.

Kent sat quietly at the table, watching Bob and Alicia move around and fuss over him without saying much.

"Jack. Son," Bob started when he finally answered the phone. He walked over to Kent and ran his fingers through his hair. "You need to come home. Now." There was a pause on Bob's end as he listened to whatever Jack had to say. "No. I don't care. This is a family emergency the team will understand." Bob paused again. "No. I'm fine. Your mom is fine too. But you need to come home."

Alicia sighed and saw that Bob wasn't making any progress with their son. She held her hand out. She put the phone to her ear and heard Jack swearing in French. "Jack. Sweetie. I'm fine," she said. "But, you need to come home. Please?" Then came a pause. "Okay. We'll see you soon. I love you." She hung the phone up, then went back to making their omelets. "Kent, sweetie. You want something to drink?"

Kent looked over at Alicia and shook his head. He was a little confused as to why the two of them didn't just tell Jack why he needed to come home.

Maybe, if they told him he was there, then Jack would've automatically stayed where he was.

Why did it matter if he was there or not?

Kent could've easily been on his way without Jack ever knowing he was there. Besides, Jack had to have known that Kent visited the Zimmermanns when he was in Montreal once a year during the season.

Still, the way they were acting was weird, but Kent wasn't going to say anything. This was their house. If they wanted to keep secrets that was their choice.

But that didn't mean he wasn't nervous about Jack showing up whenever he decided to. He wasn’t going to mention his anxieties to Bob and Alicia, though.

Breakfast was quiet. Usually, whenever he had breakfast at the Zimmermanns, the dining room was full of conversation. Some about hockey. More not about hockey.

The silence was unusual. And it was making Kent feel uneasy. He kept his eyes down for most of the meal. He was also uneasy because he could feel the gazes of Alicia and Bob on him the entire time. He knew that if he looked up he'd be met with both of their stares.

So instead, he focused on finishing his omelet so the three of them could try and figure out what was going on.

It took them almost an hour to finish their breakfast. Alicia stood to start cleaning up and Kent stood to help her, but Bob put a hand on Kent's to keep him in place.

"Sit, Kent," he said.

Kent immediately sat back down. He sighed. He dragged his hands down his face. "Okay. I'm gonna say it," he said softly. "You two are acting really, really weird."

"I know," Bob said softly. "We. This." Bob put his hand over his mouth and shut his eyes as he tried to find the right thing to say. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Kent furrowed his brow. He didn’t have to think hard. He knew exactly where he was the night before. "We just finished playing the Habs. We won in a shootout. Went back to the hotel and had some chicken alfredo. Packed up my things because we were flying out in the morning. Fell asleep watching a rerun of some cop show on CBS. Then I woke up in a car right outside the gate."

Bob nodded taking all of it in. "That sounds normal, doesn't it?"

"It is. So, can you help me figure out how the hell I ended up here?"

"I'm not sure, Kent," Bob said.

"Yeah, I figured." He leaned back in his chair. "Can you tell me why you two are acting like you haven't seen me in a long time?"

"Because we--"

"Kent. Sweetie," Alicia interrupted. "What... what year is it?"

Kent stared at Alicia like she had grown a second head. "It's 2018," he answered slowly. The answer was obvious.

"What?" Bob said. Now Bob was staring at Kent like he had grown a second head.

"What?" Kent asked. "Is it not?" If he had his phone, he would've just looked at it and he would've had all of his answers.

Alicia set down the dish she had been washing, washed her hands, then walked over after drying them. "Kent. It's 2022."

Kent's eyes went wide. "I lost four years!" He looked at the two of them. "How is that possible?" he asked. "Did I take a bad hit? Have I been in a coma all this time? Did I leave the hospital without anyone knowing? Is that why you two keep staring at me?"

"Kent, no. That's not it," she said.

"Then what's happening?" Kent asked. "Because you two aren't saying anything and it's freaking me out." He stood up, knocking over the chair he had been sitting in. "I have no idea how I got here. You two are obviously worried about something so much that you two have to call Jack which I don’t understand why would you do that since you know we only just barely started talking again."

"Kent," Bob said, standing up. He reached over and put his hand on Kent's neck, running his thumb along his pulse point. "You need to calm down."

Kent looked up at Bob. He could've sworn his voice had gotten a little deeper with what he said. "I'm trying. But I'm scared because none of this is making any sense. And I--"

"You died," Alicia said softly.

Kent looked over at Alicia with wide eyes. He couldn't have heard what he thought he had just heard. "Wh-what?"

"You. Well, maybe not you. But there is a you, here, that died."

"That can't be right. That doesn’t make any sense," he said. "I'm right here. I'm standing right here. I would've known if I died." He wasn't sure why he said that. It didn't make any sense to him at all. But what about this entire situation did make sense?

"It's true, Kent," Bob said. "We. We were there at your funeral. It was a very big loss for us. But something must've happened because you're here. And we're happy. But we have no idea how it's even possible."

"But I'm not dead,” he said. “I died?”

Alicia reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She typed a few things in and pulled up an article. She turned the phone around so Kent could see the headline.

“Kent Parson, First Omega Captain in the NHL, Dead at 29”

Kent leaned forward to look at the article. It was on the NHL website. It was real.

Apparently he'd been dead for almost two years.


	2. Chapter 2

Kent’s knees gave out on him. He would've hit the ground if Bob hadn't grabbed his arm and pulled him in close. "I..."

"Easy," Bob said. He led Kent back to the chair and helped him into it.

Kent looked up at Bob once he was in the chair and there was no chance of him falling out of it. "I... how?" he asked.

"I'd rather not tell you," Bob said. "It's hard enough whenever we have to think about it." He brushed Kent's hair back. “But you’re here now.”

"Let me get you something to drink, honey," Alicia said, heading back into the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water. She returned a moment later and looked at him with such gentle eyes. "What are you thinking?" she asked as she held the glass out to him.

Kent licked his lips and looked up. "I'm so confused," he said softly. He didn’t reach for the cup. "I'm alive. I know I am."

"We know, Kent," Alicia said. She reached down and took his hand and put the cup in it. She put her hands around his so he didn't drop it. "We can see it. You're here. We’re touching you. We’re talking to you. We just have no idea how.”

Kent thought back to the article he just saw. He was 29 when the Kent in this place died. And it was 2022 according to Bob and Alicia. He did the math. "Two years?"

Alicia and Bob nodded. "I know it's a lot to take in," Bob said. "But we're. We’re gonna do whatever we can to help you through this, okay?"

“But. But mom and dad? David?” Kent said softly. “And the team?”

“We can’t tell your family,” Bob said. “Not yet.”

"And I know it seems like we're trying to keep you here and away from them and your team, but you have to understand that the entire world thinks you're gone. And we have no idea how to begin to explain this," Alicia added.

Kent nodded. He took a sip of the water, then set it down on the table. "I know. I get it. I get that part. It’s just. Everything else is still a jumbled mess. Like... am I your Kent? Somehow? If I'm not, how the hell did I get here?"

"We'd like to know that as well," Bob said.

"And what the hell is an omega? And why is it important that I… he was the first one that was an NHL captain?”

Bob and Alicia looked at each other. Then they both looked at Kent. "What do you mean?" Alicia asked.

"The headline. It said I was the first omega NHL captain. It was such a weird detail. What does that even mean?" Kent asked.

"You. You don't know what an omega is?" Alicia asked slowly.

Kent shook his head. "I'm guessing it's important, though? Here? Why else would they include that in my. His headline?”

"You have no idea what an omega is," Alicia said again. She looked over at her husband. "Oh, Bobby."

"Well, this just got a lot more complicated."

"How?" Kent asked. He really wished he had his phone so he could look up what an omega was. But would his phone have even worked in this place? Did he have service? Maybe he could borrow their computer after they were done. He wanted to know more about this place. “There’s no way you can’t can’t just tell me like the bare bones of it?”

"Sweetie," Alicia said. "We can't exactly answer those questions right now. Not until we figure out how you got here and how long you'll be staying."

"That makes sense," he said. He felt drained. He didn’t have the energy to begin thinking about anything. "You think I could go lie down for a bit? I don't know if I actually slept in that car last night, but my back is probably not going to be happy in a few hours."

"Of course, sweetie," Alicia said. She reached down and took his hand. "You know where the guest room is. I'll get something more comfortable for you to sleep in, okay?" She went up to her tiptoes when Kent stood up and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't.” She paused as she tried to think of what she wanted to say. “Please try not to worry about these things. Bob and I will take care of it."

"Yeah, okay," Kent said. Besides his mom, and Swoops’ parents, the Zimmermanns were always there to take care of him if he needed. "Thanks." He sighed and wrapped his arms around her. He was so tired now.

Alicia wrapped her arms around Kent and held him tight. As tight as she had the first time she'd seen him. It made sense to Kent why she had done that. "You're welcome, Kent. Anything for you."

Bob walked over and wrapped his arms around Kent from the back. "We've missed you so much," he said softly. He held them for a minute before finally letting go. "Go get some rest. I know this has been a lot to take in. We'll figure this out, okay? We just have to wait for Jack to get here."

"Does he really need to be?"

"He does, Kent."

Kent nodded. "Okay," he said. He waited for Alicia to let go before he headed to the guest room that he always stayed at whenever he visited the Zimmermanns. He sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Alicia to arrive. It didn't make sense for him to lay down only to have to get back up to change. He did kick off his shoes and socks before settling.

This was almost too much. He was dead. Or, the him in this place was dead. And he had been for two years. And now he was here?

He had so many questions.

It was making his head hurt.

He dragged his hands down his face with a groan. How was he supposed to deal with this now? He was about to let out a noise of frustration when there was a light knock on the open door. "Hi."

"Hey, sweetie," she said walking in. "I got you some pajamas. Sorry the shirt has the Falconers logo on it."

Kent had to laugh. He took the clothes and opened the shirt. "It's okay. I figured it'd be the only thing you'd have here." He unbuttoned his shirt and took it off before throwing the shirt on. It was soft. Definitely well worn. And the smell of it was so comforting.

"Well, you get some sleep, okay? If you need anything, please just let us know. Bob and I are going to be working to figure this out."

"Thanks," he said.

She kissed Kent on his forehead and gave him one more hug before he backed out of the room. She shut the door behind her.

Kent unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down. He then pulled the pajama pants on. They were also comfortable. And well worn. And a little big which meant that they were definitely Jack's.

He sat back down on the edge of the bed. Now that he was in something that wasn’t jeans and on a bed his body was ready to sleep.

He scooted up the bed and laid down. He curled up, exhausted. This whole thing was confusing and nothing that the Zimmermanns had said provided any clarity.

For now, Kent wanted to sleep. It was still early in the day, but his body and all the thoughts running through his head made him exhausted enough that he was sure he was going to sleep through the entire night.

Whenever he decided to wake up, he'd shower, probably eat something, and then him and Alicia and Bob could figure out what to do next.

\---

Jack had flown home on the first flight that he could. His parents scared him telling him that he needed to go home because of a family emergency. His dad had said he and his mom were okay, so Jack had no idea what this family emergency could be about.

Maybe something had happened to one of his grandparents.

Even though his parents were giving him nothing in terms of answers he knew that his parents were nervous enough and maybe scared enough that Jack needed to come home. They wouldn’t lie about a family emergency.

Luckily, his team understood.

Ever since Kent died, his teammates had rallied around him and were always looking out for him and his well-being. He would be forever grateful because without them he had no idea how he would've gotten through Kent's death since everything reminded him of Kent.

He arrived home six hours after he had received the call from his dad. After he hung up, it took him half an hour before he saw that his dad had made him a flight back to Montreal.

A one way ticket.

Whatever this family emergency was, it was a big one if his dad wanted him back so urgently.

He pulled into the driveway, walked to the front door, unlocked it, then stepped in. "Maman? Papa?" He shut the door behind him and went looking around for his parents.

He didn't have to search long because he found them sitting in the dining room.

"Jack," Bob said, standing up. "What? You should've called. I would've come to get you."

Jack shook his head. He thought his dad would have been waiting for him since he had made the flight in the first place. "It was faster that way." He looked at the floor and saw one of the couch cushions on it. He frowned. He then walked over and picked it up. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Let me go put that back on the couch," Alicia said, taking the cushion from him.

"Why was it on the floor?" Jack asked. He frowned when he could smell the scent of someone else in the house. There was something familiar about it, but he couldn’t exactly place it. "Did you have someone over? Whose car is outside?"

"Jack. Son," Bob said. "You should sit down."

Jack hesitated for a minute before taking his seat in his usual chair. Right next to where the seat cushion had been. He looked at his dad, then looked at his mom as she returned from putting the cushion back on the couch. "What is going on?" he asked. "You can't just say a family emergency when you two are obviously fine. You're fine, right?"

"We're fine," Alicia said. She sat down on the other side of Jack. She reached out and put her hand on his and squeezed. "A little shaken up, but we're okay." She leaned over and kissed him on his temple. She could smell that he was anxious. "We're okay. Just keep breathing."

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Jack asked. "Apparently it's something important because I'm here. And I don't even know what to think, so can someone say something?"

"We will, Jack," Bob said. "We're just trying to figure out where to start."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that--" Alicia was interrupted by their guest room door opening. “Oh no,” she said softly. She didn’t stand up fast enough.

"Hey, Alicia. Can I grab a towel? I wanna take a quick shower before I help with din..." Kent stopped rubbing his eyes and stopped talking when he saw that there was another person in the kitchen with them. "Oh.” Not just any other person. “Hi, Jack."

Jack glared at Kent. Then he turned to stare at his parents. Then his gaze went back to Kent, but this time much softer. "What. What the hell is this?" he said as his throat was tightening.

Kent stayed where he was. Maybe the Jack and Kent in this universe weren't on the best terms either. "I can explain. Sort of.” Not really. He really couldn’t. “I just sort of ended up here. I’m trying to figure out a way back home. I'm sorry. I'll stay out of your hair."

Jack shot up from his seat. He didn't stop staring at Kent. "Is... is this real?" he asked his parents.

"Yes," Alicia said. "But, honey. It's not--"

The yes was all Jack needed before he was taking the few steps he neededto stand right in front of Kent. "Kenny?" he said softly, before grabbing Kent and pulling him into the hug. He held him for a minute before he let out a sob. “How?”

Kent stood frozen in place. This was not the reaction he expected Jack to have. Especially not after the way he had been glaring a few seconds ago.

But he remembered that he was dead in this universe. Jack hadn't seen him for two years. Maybe they'd reconciled before then and were on good terms.

The hug felt nice. A little tight, but nice.

He just let Jack hold him. Because what else could he do?

He didn't know how long Jack had been hugging him before the other man finally loosened his hold. Kent looked up at him and saw Jack's eyes red and wet with tears. "Jack?"

"How? How are you here?" he asked, cupping Kent's cheeks with his hands.

"I don't know," he said softly. "I just woke up and I was here."

"The cushion was for him?" he asked, looking over his shoulder for a second to look at his parents. He then looked back at Kent a second later almost as if he were scared that if he looked away for too long that Kent would disappear.

"Yes. But, Jack. Honey. There are a few things we need to explain before--"

Jack didn't care to listen to the rest of whatever his mom had to say.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Kent's.


	3. Chapter 3

Kent tensed as Jack's lips pressed against his own. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. But it didn't stop him from kissing Jack back. It was something he'd wanted to do for so many years, and now he had the chance to he wasn’t going to miss it.

Then Jack pulled back.

The kiss was over too quickly.

He looked up at Jack again and saw that there was a smile on his face. He looked so good when he smiled. "What... what was that?" Kent asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You kissed me. Why did you kiss me?"

"Why... why wouldn’t I have kissed you?" Jack asked. "Of course I'm going to kiss you. You're my--"

"Jack," Alicia said quickly so that Jack didn't say too much too soon. "He. This Kent is different."

Jack let go of Kent and Kent immediately felt the loss of the touch. He wanted it back. Still, he wasn't going to take advantage of a situation even though he wanted nothing more than to have Jack's touch on him again. "Sorry," he said softly.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, spinning around to look at his parents. He moved so that he could still see Kent out of the corner of his eye.

"He. Kent doesn't know what an omega is," Bob said.

Jack sucked in a breath. "So. So the cushion." Devastation painted his expression.

"He didn't, sweetie," Alicia said softly.

"But he's real. He's right here. I held him. I kissed him.”

"I know, Jack," Alicia said. They had just seen that happen. "I'm not sure, but I think wherever this Kent is from, they don't have Alphas or omegas."

"We don't," Kent asked. It felt uncomfortable that they were talking about him like he wasn't there, but he wanted to be able to tell them the truth. "I'm not sure what you two are talking about, but we don't have that. We're just regular people."

"So are we," Alicia said. "At least, here, we are."

"So, what is he doing here? How did he even get here? Are we trying to send him back?"

"We don't even know where to begin with that last one," Alicia said.

Jack turned to look at Kent. He stared for a minute before pulling his gaze away. "I. I need a minute." He left the kitchen without another word.

Kent watched as Jack walked out of the kitchen and disappeared up the stairs. He was probably going to his room. This was probably too much for Jack to take in at the moment. He felt bad about surprising him the way he did. He didn't think Jack was going to be home for another few hours.

He sighed and dragged his hand down his face then turned to look at Alicia and Bob. "Can I borrow a towel? And some other clothes? I wanna make myself useful and help with dinner when I'm done showering."

"Sweetie, you don't have to do that,” she said. But she could see that Kent needed something to do. She walked up and cupped his cheek. She held it there for a moment, just to make sure Kent was still there and would still be there. “But I will get you a towel and something to wear," Alicia headed upstairs leaving Kent and Bob alone.

"Things are really different here, aren't they?" Kent asked.

Bob walked over and hugged Kent. He wasn't sure if he needed it or not, but it felt right for one or both of them. "We'll figure it out though. It's what we do."

Kent wrapped his arms around Bob. "Okay," he said. He trusted the Zimmermanns. "Can you tell me what an omega is? And why Jack kissed me?"

Bob let out a gentle laugh, then unwrapped his arms. He looked at Kent and smiled softly at him. "I can answer the first one. If you really want to know. The second, you'll have to ask Jack. I don't think it's my place to answer that question."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Kent said. He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled when Alicia returned with a towel. "Thank you."

"Of course, sweetie," she said. "Go clean up, and then we'll figure out what to do about dinner?"

“Okay,” he said then headed into the downstairs bathroom closest to the guest room he had slept in.

Bob and Alicia looked at each other and made sure they heard the water running before they headed upstairs to check on Jack. They found him in his bedroom, sitting on his bed, holding a picture in his hands. “Honey?” Alicia asked.

Jack looked up, his eyes red and hands shaking. “How… how is this happening? Is this really him?”

Alicia walked over and waited for Jack to stand up. He set down the picture and stood in front of his mom. She threw her arms around him once he stood in front of her. “I don’t know,” she said. “I wish I had an answer, but I don’t.”

“He can’t be here, maman,” Jack said softly. “Not… not if they’re gonna take him away again.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I know that even though it’s been years, it’s still fresh.”

“I don’t even know if I can be in the same room as him,” Jack said.

Bob picked up the frame Jack had set down. It was a picture of Jack and Kent. “Son,” he said softly. “I know it hurts to see him, but we don’t know how long he’s going to be here. He could be stuck with us for some time. And we don’t even know if he has a way of going back to where he’s from. The three of us are probably the only people in the world that know he’s here. Are we really going to not take the chance to know him?”

“He’s not my Kenny,” Jack said, stepping away from his mom and to glare at his dad. “My Kenny is--”

“I know,” Bob said. “I’m not telling you that this Kent is a replacement for your Kent. I would never say that because no one can replace our Kent Parson. But he’s a Kent Parson. And you did just kiss him.”

“I… I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted it to be him so badly, maman,” Jack said softly.

“I know, Jack,” Alicia said. “We did too. We put a pillow down for him.”

“But he had no idea what to do with it.”

“I can’t begin to describe the shock of seeing him in the chair instead of kneeling.” But then Alicia shrugged. She had time to move past it.

“Their world, wherever he’s from, is different,” Bob said.

That felt like the understatement of the century. “Has he said anything else?” Jack asked.

Bob shook his head and set the picture frame down. “No, not really. We didn’t want to overwhelm him. We let him sleep after we told him that he was dead here.”

Jack could understand that. He wanted nothing more than to sleep after the emotional rollercoaster he’d been on in the last half an hour from the airport to here. He sat back down on his bed. “And what about you two? How are you doing? This can’t have been easy for you?”

Alicia didn’t know how to answer that. Seeing Kent had put her in some sort of autopilot and she hadn’t really slowed down to actually think about what was going on with him. “We… we’ll deal with it later. I just want to focus on taking care of him.” It was an honest answer. If she took the time to focus on anything else, she would probably be as devastated as Jack. “He’s in a new universe. He has no idea what it is to be an omega. He just learned that there is a version of him that’s dead.” She sighed and sat down next to her son. She took Jack’s hand and squeezed it. “We have to take care of him. We’re all he has, right now.”

Jack let out a sigh and dragged his hand down his face. “I… I don’t know if I can do this. It. It’s been two years, but he still looks like the day he…”

“I know, Jack,” Bob said. “And you don’t have to stay. We just wanted you to know what was going on.”

“I can’t just leave. I’m going to stay. For a week, at least. I. I think I need to keep him close.”

“Jack. If it’s gonna be too much--”

“I have to, mom.”

Alicia nodded once. “Okay,” she said. She stood up and kissed her son on her forehead. “I think we should head downstairs. He might be done with his shower and wondering where we are.”

Jack hugged his mom. “I’ll be down in a bit. I just need.” He took the photo from his dad when Bob held it out to him. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Take all the time you need, honey.”

"Thanks, maman," Jack said softly.

Bob and Alicia then headed downstairs. They found Kent standing in the middle of the living room wearing nothing but a towel.

Kent turned around to look at them when he heard them heading down the stairs. "Hi," he said, waving awkwardly. "I... I didn't know where you left the clothes. And I was gonna just wear my old stuff, but I think they might be in the wash. And I feel really weird just standing here in a towel, but I don't know what else to do. And now I'm rambling in a towel."

Alicia walked over and put a hand on his damp shoulder. "Sweetie. That was my fault. I'll grab something for you. Just go wait in the guest room, okay?"

Kent nodded. "Okay. I might have to go shopping eventually, huh?" he said with a laugh. He then turned and walked to the guest room.

Alicia headed back upstairs to Jack's room. She tapped on the door. "Sweetie. Can I have a pair of shorts and a shirt to borrow? Kent needs something to wear." She listened and heard Jack open and close a few drawers before he opened the door.

"I can bring it to him," he said.

"Jack, honey, you don't need--"

"I know," Jack said softly. "It's okay. I can't avoid him forever."

"I know. But you can take a few more minutes if you need to," Alicia said. “It’s just a quick handoff.”

Jack shook his head. "I'm okay, right now. I might not be in a few hours, but I think I can handle delivering some clothes."

Alicia kissed Jack on his cheek. "We're going to have to buy him some clothes later. Since we don't know how long he'll be here."

"Tomorrow." Jack then walked out of the room with his mom following. He headed straight to the guest room once he got downstairs. He knocked on the door twice and waited.

"Yeah?" Kent said. "Come in."

Jack let out a sigh. He opened the door and saw Kent sitting on the edge of the bed in just a towel. “Hi.”


	4. Chapter 4

Kent quickly shot up after making sure that his towel was wrapped tightly around his hips. "Hi," he said. "Hey. Thanks for the... hi."

Jack held the shirt, shorts, and a new pair of boxer briefs out to him. "If you need anything else, please let me know."

Kent walked over and grabbed the clothes with one hand. "Thanks," he said softly. "I... um. I'll… I should be out in a minute."

The thing was, Jack knew that the man standing in front of him wasn’t his Kent. He knew. But, damn, if the Kent in front of him didn’t look exactly like his Kent did all those years ago. Right down to the scar on his left hip, right above where Jack used to kiss and mark up because that spot was always so sensitive for him.

He found himself reaching to touch it. Only stopping when Kent took a slight step back. He looked up and realized what he was doing. He closed his hand, clenching his fist. "Take your time. We haven't decided on dinner yet," Jack said, quickly pulling his hand back and shoving it into his pocket. He turned to let Kent get dressed in private.

Jack shut the door behind him with a deep sigh. He walked into the kitchen and plopped himself down in the nearest chair. He dragged his hands down his face as he tried to pull himself together.

Alicia walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. She gave it a light squeeze. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Jack said. He looked up at his mom and smiled sadly at her. "He looks just like Kenny, maman. And their smells are so similar. But, just different enough that I know that he's not my Kenny." He sighed and shook his head, trying to remember the differences between his Kent and this Kent. "This hasn't hit me, yet. And I don't know if I'll be ready when it does."

Alicia brushed her fingers through Jack's hair a few times. "We'll be here, baby. I promise, it'll be okay."

Jack leaned into his mom's touch. "Thanks, mom," he said softly. He looked over when he heard the guest room door open. He stood up quickly.

Kent walked into the kitchen a few minutes later and stared at the family that was gathered in one area. "Hi," he said. "Thanks for the clothes."

The clothes were nothing special. A pair of basketball shorts. A plain gray shirt. But they were Jack's. And it made him swallow hard to see Kent wearing them.

"I'll... I'll get you a sweatshirt that you can wear to sleep," Jack said.

Kent stared at Jack with wide eyes. He settled once he realized that it wasn’t that weird for him to know that. Of course Jack would know how he slept. He had been wearing the same things to sleep since forever. Jack and the Kent from this place were obviously friends. Or, maybe more than friends with the way Jack kissed him earlier. "Thanks." He then looked to Bob and Alicia. "So, can I help with dinner?"

That seemed to snap the three Zimmermanns out of whatever it was that had frozen them in place. "Of course," Bob said. "What are we thinking?"

"I'm not--"

"Shrimp scampi pasta," Jack said.

Kent looked at Jack and couldn't help but blush. "We... we don't have to do that," he said. He knew that Jack was suggesting it just because it was one of his favorite foods.

Jack shook his head. "I want it too," he said so simply that Kent wouldn't have believed it was a lie. "Tomorrow, you can choose dinner."

"Okay," Kent said. He wasn't going to argue with Jack.

"Well, I don't think we have all of the ingredients for that, so I'll head to the store,” Alicia said.

"Would you like some company?" Kent asked.

The three Zimmermanns looked at each other. "Kent, sweetie," Alicia said softly. "We... it might not be a good idea for you to be seen out in public just yet."

"Oh. Right." Kent had honestly forgotten that there was a version of him in this universe that was no longer alive. "I guess I'll just wait here, then."

"You won't be alone," Bob said. "Jack and I will stay here with you."

Alicia smiled. "Good, that gives me time to go shopping for some clothes for Kent so he doesn't have to keep wearing Jack's."

"I don't mind," Jack said quickly.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Nonsense. Kent needs clothes of his own. I'll be quick." She walked up to Bob and kissed him on his lips before heading to Jack to kiss his cheek, then Kent to kiss his forehead. "You three don't get into too much trouble."

“I’ll go with you,” Jack said.

“Honey, it’s okay. I’ll just be down the street.”

“Maman,” Jack said, looking at Kent for a moment before looking back to his mom.

Alicia walked up and cupped her son’s cheek. “The universe isn’t that cruel, Jack.”

“It already was once,” Jack said softly.

Alicia smiled sadly at him. “I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when I get there and then when I’m on my way home,” she said. She kissed him, grabbed her keys, then headed to the garage.

The three men stayed in place until they heard the garage door open, then close a minute later.

"So," Kent said to break the silence that sat between the three of them. "Bob, you said something about explaining what an omega was?"

"You said what?" Jack asked, glaring at his father.

"He asked,” Bob said with a shrug. “He saw the headline and saw that he was the first omega captain in the NHL. He was curious."

"Then you say that it's not important."

"But it is," Bob said. "Jack. Kent may be here for some time."

"Or he might be gone tomorrow."

“He wants to know about this world. What harm would it do to teach him a few things? If he stays, then he knows a few things to be able to live in it. If he leaves tomorrow, then whenever he wakes up he’ll probably just think it was all a weird dream.”

“He--”

"I don't have to know," Kent said before the discussion got out of hand. "I was just... curious. Like Bob said. I really don't need to know."

Jack turned to look at Kent, furrowing his brow as he tried to read Kent's expression. "Why?"

"Why what?" Kent asked.

"Why don't you want to know anymore?"

"It's not important," Kent replied.

Jack frowned. "I said that."

"You were... are right," Kent said. "It's really not important to know."

Jack's frown deepened. "Do you always do that?"

"Do what?" Kent asked.

"Just give in to whatever I say?

"I don't think so? We just met."

"But do you do that with your Jack."

"I don't have a Jack," Kent said.

"What?" Jack asked.

Kent’s eyes went wide. He realized that what he said could’ve been taken as the Jack in his universe was dead. "I mean. I have a Jack. There’s a Jack in my universe. But he's not mine." Kent dropped his gaze as Jack kept staring at him. "We just started being friends again. Barely."

"After the OD?" Jack asked.

Kent stared at Jack. It was so weird to see Jack talk about it so easily with him, especially since his Jack could barely say anything to him without yelling. "Yeah."

"And you think it's 2018. That means it's been almost ten years."

"Sometimes people just don't reconcile," Kent said.

Jack frowned his signature frown. "No. Not... Your Jack was an idiot."

"Not my Jack," Kent corrected softly. He ran his hand up and down his arm, uncomfortable with the topic. "Jack. It's fine."

Jack glared at him. "No. It's not," he said. He stepped out of the kitchen for a moment before returning a minute later with his laptop. He sat down at the dining table and called his mom. He waited for a bit, knowing that his mom wouldn’t answer the phone if the car was moving. It took over a minute before she finally answered. "Maman. What's the best article to show Kent about what it means to be an omega?"

Kent's eyes went wide when he realized that Jack was interrupting his mom's shopping trip. "Jack, it's fine," he said again.

Jack ignored Kent. "Okay," he said as he started typing on the laptop after pinning his phone between his ear and his shoulder. "No, this is papa’s doing. He told Kent that he’d explain what it was.”

"Let me talk to her," Bob said, stepping forward.

Jack waved his dad off. "No," he said, rolling his eyes at something his mom had said. "That's too much information to give him at one time," he said after Alicia had said something pretty lengthy. “What good would it do telling him that?" He let out a sigh. "I'm not gonna do that until he's here for at least a week."

Jack typed something, then used the trackpad to click on something. Then another thing. And then one more.

"Jack," Kent said. He could see that Jack was opening a lot of articles for him.

"I'll see you soon, maman. Drive safe," he said. "Please," he added softly at the end. He waited to hear whatever his mom had to say before he hung up. He typed something else into the laptop, clicked on a few more things. He stood up and stared at Kent for a moment. "Sit."

Kent scooted in front of Jack and sat in the chair he had just vacated. "Okay," he said slowly.

Jack shut the laptop, but not all the way. He waited for Kent to look at him. "Please. Please, just look at the pages that I have open for you."

"I don't--"

"I don't want you to look up how you died. Or who you were. Or... I can answer those questions later."

"When I'm here longer than a week?"

Jack sighed. "I know that seems cruel, but you can't..." He ran his hand down his face.

"It's okay, Jack," Kent said, reaching up, wanting to touch Jack's arm. He stopped himself and put his hand back on the table. "Just tell me. How are the Aces doing?"

Jack let out a laugh and gave Kent a small smile. "They're doing fine," he said. "Playoff position. As usual." He reached over and lifted the screen.

Kent nodded, glad to hear that the Aces were still a good team. "So, what am I looking at?"

"Some sexual education articles about presenting as an Alpha, beta, or omega when you come of age," he said.

"I see," Kent said.

"I'm not sure if they'll actually make sense to someone who doesn't already have the knowledge of what being one is. It's our norm here."

"That's what your mom said." He looked at the first article on the screen and scrolled to the title. "I'm sure I'll have a billion questions by the end of this article alone.

"Well, we're here to answer them," Bob said, putting a hand on Kent's shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Would you be able to--" Kent said at the same time as Jack said, "Let me get you a notepad."

Kent felt his cheeks warm at how Jack was able to predict what he was going to say. "Thanks, Jack," he said softly.

"It's nothing, Kenny," he said softly. "Let me get you something to drink, okay?"

Kent’s blush deepened at Jack calling him by a nickname he hadn’t heard in years. "You don't--"

"Just let him do this, son," Bob said, giving Kent's shoulder one more squeeze before letting go.

Jack returned a moment later with a glass of water and a notepad and pen. "We'll be around," he said, brushing his fingers through Kent's hair. He resisted the temptation to kiss the top of Kent's head before he nodded at his dad so the two of them could leave Kent alone.

Kent watched the two of them leave him alone in the dining room. He put his fingers to the keyboard, tempted to look up a few things. He immediately pulled his hands back. He had promised Jack he wouldn't.

Instead, his eyes went back to the screen.

"Secondary Genders: Alpha, Beta/beta, and omega"

It looked like a sex ed pamphlet for teenagers. Kent shrugged. It was probably the easiest and most straightforward explanation of the basics. "Here we go," he said softly as he started to read.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shows up 4 weeks late with a chapter.
> 
> Tags have been updated, please take note.

The article was long. It had a lot of links that Kent wasn't sure if he was allowed to click on, so he didn’t. But he kept scrolling and reading the one really, really long webpage.

He didn’t realize how long he had been reading until he heard the front door open and close. He looked at the screen and saw that he was just about to read about what an omega was. He had to save that for later.

He shut the laptop, stood up, and walked to the front door. He smiled when he saw Alicia and immediately took two of the bags from her arms. "Is there more in the car?"

"I got it, sweetie," she said with a smile. "You shouldn't go outside yet."

Kent nodded, trying to get himself to remember that. The Zimmermanns were the only people that knew he was here. "Okay," he said. He brought the two grocery bags to the kitchen and set them down on the huge island in the middle of it. He started unpacking and laying everything out. Alicia had bought enough to keep them stocked for a few days.

He looked up when he heard footsteps make their way into the kitchen. He smiled when he saw Bob and Alicia carrying a few more bags.

"I got you a change of clothes," Alicia said, holding up three plastic bags. She held them out to Kent.

"This is too much," Kent said softly as he looked at the things in the bag.

Alicia shrugged. "We can spare it, for you." She kissed his cheek. "I figured you might feel weird wearing so much Falconers gear."

"If that's all there is, then I could manage,” Kent felt bad that they were doing all of this for him. “You don't even know how long I'll be here. I could be gone tomorrow." Like Jack had been saying.

"Well, then I'll keep the receipts and return them if you do. Why don't you go put them away?"

Kent took the last bag that Bob held out to him. He headed into the guest bedroom and took all of the clothes out. He then laid them out according to what they were. Shirts. Shorts. Jeans. Boxer-briefs. Socks. Two sweatshirts. She even bought him two hats.

When he stepped back out of the room, Jack was in the kitchen with his parents. He was standing at the table, looking over the notepad.

Jack looked up and met Kent's eyes. "You didn't write anything down," he said.

"I... yeah," he said walking over. He had questions. Dozens of them. He just hadn't remembered to write them down. He was so busy reading some parts over and over again to try and process everything that he forgot to write down some things.

"No questions?"

"Maybe too many," Kent said. "I didn't even finish the first article."

"How far did you get?"

"I was about to read about what an omega was when your mom came back," Kent said.

"Do you want to keep reading, honey?" Alicia asked. "We have more than enough hands to make dinner."

"I feel bad," Kent said. "I want to help." They were already doing way too much for him.

"I know, Kent," Alicia said. "But we don't mind you prioritizing. We can tell you want to keep reading. And that's okay. We can make dinner."

As gentle as it sounded, Kent knew that it was basically an order. She wanted him to keep reading and she wanted him to let them make him dinner. There was no place for argument.

Kent headed back to the dining table and sat back down. As much as he wanted to help, right now, he wanted to know more about this world first. "Before I get back to reading, can I ask you all a question?"

"Of course," Bob said. "Within reason,” he quickly added.

"Yeah," Kent replied. He knew that there were still a few things that they weren’t going to tell him. "Are any of you three omegas?"

Jack looked to his parents, trying to figure out what they should say. "We're all Alphas," he said after his mom gave him a slight nod.

Kent watched the three of them for a moment. He had no idea what he was watching for, but once he got his answer, he opened up the laptop.

"Wait," Jack said, rushing over and grabbing the laptop from Kent.

Kent tensed as Jack came at him. He stared at him with wide eyes. That reaction was unexpected.

"Jack!" Alicia said as her son snatched the laptop away from Kent after the three of them had said it was okay for him to use it.

"Sorry," Jack said to his mom. "I... there's an... intimate picture as my screensaver. I'd... I'd rather not sh…subject you to that."

Kent continued to stare at Jack. "Okay," he said slowly. "But the entire hockey world saw you be intimate with your boyfriend a few years ago in my world, so honestly you have nothing to worry about."

"My boyfriend."

"Eric. Bittle. Teammate from Samwell. You still went to Samwell, right?"

"I see. And, yes, I did," Jack said. He balanced his laptop on his arm, entered his password, then set the laptop back down on the table. "Sorry,” he said to Kent.

"It's okay," he said. "You don't know me. You don't have to apologize for keeping your private life private." That was something that he needed to learn and he was still learning. He wasn't sure if it was easier or harder to do while staring at a man that had Jack's face. But it wasn’t his Jack. They didn't share a history.

"I just... I didn't mean to scare you," Jack said.

"You..." Kent wanted to say that Jack hadn't scared him, but the sudden movement did startle him. "It's okay. Like I said. And thanks for apologizing. I guess."

"Thank you," he said. "Well, if you have any questions. We're... there." He walked back toward his parents to start peeling some shrimp for dinner.

Kent could feel the three of them staring at him from time to time as he finished reading the article. He took his time. For one, he knew that dinner would take some time to put together.

The second thing was that he really wanted to understand what an omega was. Especially since the Kent from here was one. And it was a big deal that he was the first NHL captain to be of that gender.

For most of it, it was straight forward.

_Omegas were usually smaller. Not as aggressive._

That made sense considering what he had read about Alphas.

_Omegas tend to be more submissive than Alphas or Betas/betas._

Again, considering that Alphas were more dominating, it was not surprising.

_Omegas go into heat between two to four times a year._

Heat. Like how animals went into heat?

Okay. That was new.

_Do not be alarmed by the amount of slick an omega produces. It's to accommodate the Alpha's knot and allow the omega's heat to be more manageable for both the omega and the Alpha._

_Heats can last anywhere between 4 to 8 days, though some have been known to last longer or shorter than the average._

Kent scrolled down as the article began to explain what heat was to an omega.

_Omegas go through heat to signal to Alphas that their body is ready to carry pups._

_Omegas are given heat leave to go through their heat without fear of being punished._

_If an omega spends his or her heat with their mated Alpha, the heat will more likely than not end in pregnancy._

_Although chances are low, it is possible for male omegas to become pregnant._

Kent's eyes went wide as he read that line over and over and over again. He looked up at the Zimmermanns as they were concentrating on putting dinner together.

Jack could feel that Kent was staring at him and looked over. "Everything okay?"

"Could I get pregnant?" Kent asked before he could stop himself.

Jack dropped the tongs that he had been holding. He immediately grabbed it and walked it over to the sink to rinse it off. He then looked to his parents, hoping that they could help him answer the question. They looked as lost as he felt. "I..."

"Not me. I mean, could Kent. Your Kent. Since he was an omega. Could he get pregnant?"

Jack walked over and saw that Kent was still reading the same article he had been reading earlier in the day. "I think that you're done for the day."

"Jack," Bob and Alicia said at the same time.

Jack ignored his parents, grabbed the laptop, and shut it a little more violently than he had meant to. He picked up the laptop and stood up, glaring at Kent. He clenched his jaw for a moment before relaxing it to speak. "Don't ask about him," he said, his voice low and growly. "You don't get to ask about him."

For the first time since he had arrived, this Jack had reminded him of the Jack he knew.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is staying safe and taking care of themselves!

"Jack," Alicia said with such force that it sounded like a whip cracking.

Jack turned around to face his mom, still angry. His eyes went wide at the look on his mom’s face. He dropped his head, not wanting to meet her gaze. He had done something wrong. "It's none of his business," he said softly.

"Then you tell him that. Politely," Alicia said after a moment, her tone much more patient than it was a moment ago. "How is he supposed to know that he's not supposed to ask about him?"

"I'm sorry," Jack said.

Kent froze for a minute, just staring. It was weird to hear those two words from Jack directed at him. He blinked twice to shake himself out of it. "It's okay, Jack.”

Jack frowned at him again. "No. It's not.” It was the same frown from earlier when Kent had been a little too agreeable with him.

Kent bit his lip, unsure of what to say. "It's my fault," he said. "I shouldn't have asked about him. I should've just kept my questions to Alphas and omegas and whatever. I should've known asking about him was off limits."

"I didn't realize he was," Jack said. But apparently it was considering how he had responded. "And it's not. Your fault, I mean.” He set the laptop back on the dining table, but away from Kent's reach. "And even if he was, we didn't say anything, so you didn't know. So I'm apologizing for my reaction."

"It's okay."

"Stop that," Jack said. "I made a mistake. I used a tone with you that you didn't deserve. You're not my omega. I had no right to use my Alpha voice on you."

Alpha voice? "I didn't realize that's what you did."

Jack sucked in a breath. He'd forgotten that Kent wasn't an omega, so his Alpha voice, or any Alpha's voice had no effect on him. "Still," he said after he recovered from the realization. "It wasn't right. I have to apologize."

Kent stopped himself from saying that it was okay for the third time in a few minutes. "Apology accepted," he said, even if he didn't know exactly what Jack was apologizing for. It had to have been a big deal since Bob and Alicia had stopped what they were doing to watch them.

They got back to putting dinner together a moment after.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked. "Cutting me off from reading was probably for the best. That article had way more information than I was prepared to read."

"Are you sure you don't want to keep reading?" Jack asked.

Kent nodded. He needed some time to process everything. "I feel bad. You're all working on dinner and I'm just sitting and reading. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No," Jack said at the same time his mom said, "You can set the table, honey."

Kent decided to listen to Alicia, especially since she had been glaring at Jack again. "Okay," he said.

He stood up and moved around the kitchen, stepping around the Zimmermanns as he grabbed plates, silverware, and placemats. Everything was in the same place it was in his universe's Zimmermanns' house.

The three Zimmermanns watched as Kent moved around effortlessly grabbing everything he needed without saying anything.

Kent paused when he felt the three of them staring.

Alicia reached over and nudged Bob. "Sorry, sweetie," she said. "We just... expected you to ask where everything was." That was half true. It felt familiar watching Kent move throughout the kitchen. It was like she was watching a ghost.

"Oh," Kent said. "I... I guess I should've asked. Everything is in the same place that it is in my... universe." Moving around it felt like second nature. He didn’t have to think about where things were.

"Of course," Bob said. "It makes sense. And you don’t have to ask, Kenny. If your universe’s us is anything like we are, then you are more than welcome to move as you please."

Kent was relieved. There were already a few times that he had forgotten that this Zimmermann residence wasn’t exactly like the one he knew. A few things were in different places. A few pictures on the walls were different, but he didn’t really get a chance to look at them as he walked into the house earlier. Maybe he’d take a look at them later.

"I'm guessing we're drinking white wine with tonight's meal?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Yes," Alicia said.

Kent grabbed four white wine glasses. He set them on the table, then grabbed a set of table napkins. He stood off to the side when he was done. "Is there anything else I could do?"

"No, sweetie,” Alicia said before anyone else could say anything. “I think we're good here. Why don't you go watch something on Netflix?"

"Okay," he said instead of trying to find something else to do. He wanted to help, but he wasn’t sure what else he could’ve done. He also wasn’t going to argue with Alicia when she told him something simple to do.

Jack set down the knife he had been holding and followed Kent into the living room. He didn't want Kent to turn on the TV and see something on the news that would give something away.

Jack turned down a few picture frames before he grabbed the remote and turned on his Netflix account. "Do you have a preference?" he asked as he started to click through some of the shows.

Kent looked over his shoulder as Jack scrolled through the options with a look of concentration that rivaled how he looked at face-offs on the ice. "I don't think so? I'm not sure if shows are the same here as they are where I'm from."

Jack decided against a food show since they were so close to dinner. He chose something with superheroes then dropped the controller down next to Kent. He thought about sitting next to him to watch the show with him, but instead took a step back from the couch. "I'll be in the kitchen. Call us if you need anything."

"Okay," Kent said.

Jack stayed where he was for a moment to watch Kent settle in the same corner his Kent would sit in sometimes. He sighed and shook his head before heading back into the kitchen to help his parents.

"What are you doing, Jack?" Bob asked as soon as he walked in.

“Helping with dinner.”

“Sweetie,” Alicia said. “Go sit with Kent.”

Jack shook his head. “I said I’d help with dinner,” he replied. “We’d finish making dinner sooner. He might be hungry.”

“Jack,” Bob said. “Go sit with him.”

“Why?” Jack replied, harshly and quietly. “What does it matter if I sit with him for a few minutes?”

“Because the last thing I need is for you to cut yourself while you’re deveining shrimp because you keep looking toward the living room every time you hear something,” Alicia said.

“Licia,” Bob said with a sigh. He looked at his son. “He could be gone tomorrow. And we know you want to keep him close. It’s okay. We can handle finishing dinner.”

Jack was torn. He wanted to finish making dinner with his parents, but he could feel some anxiety building now that Kent wasn’t immediately in view. "But I want to--"

"We know how to make Kent's favorite meal, son. We've done it hundreds of times before. We’ll be quick. Go. Sit with him. Get to know him."

"But he could be gone tomorrow," Jack said, repeating what his dad had just said to him. He dragged his hand down his face, resigned. He wasn’t going to win against his parents. But he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to. They were right. He wanted to keep Kent in view. "Okay," he said softly.

Jack sent one more look his parents' way before heading back into the living room. He sat down on the couch far enough away from Kent.

He had to keep his distance.

If he sat any closer, he knew he would've wanted to touch him.

Hold him.

Kiss him.

It was safer to keep his distance.

That didn’t mean it was easy for Jack.

Especially when Kent looked over and smiled a soft, yet cautious, smile at him. Jack took it as a sort of ‘thank you’ for joining him before turning his attention back to the TV.

Jack sat back and tried to focus more on the TV show than on Kent. There was no way he was going to be successful.


	7. Chapter 7

When the episode ended, Kent had a lot of things to say about it. He looked over and watched Jack hit pause so the next episode didn’t play automatically. "It... it's like the same thing where I’m from. But they just casually mention that he's an omega. And apparently, that's a big deal," he said softly. "It's weird.” His eyes went wide when he realized how what he said could have been taken. "Not that you're weird. I just..."

"It's okay," Jack said patiently. "This entire thing is... weird.” There really wasn’t another way to describe it. “I don't know how I'd react if I was dropped in your world and I couldn't smell you."

Ken’ts eyes went wide. "You can smell me?" He asked after a moment.

Jack sucked in a breath when he realized what he could have just admitted. "I... scenting, I mean. I know you read about it."

Kent blushed and nodded. He did. It sounded very romantic when he was reading about it. The idea that for a certain Alpha or omega their scent was unique and that was how the other person knew that was their mate for life. "I probably don't really have a scent, huh?"

Jack stared at Kent for a moment. "No," he said maybe too quickly, then turned to watch the TV after starting the next episode.

Kent turned to face the TV. He figured that would be the case. His scent was probably just his cologne. And, now, he probably smelled like whatever soap he was in the guest bathroom. He wasn’t sure why that bothered him that Jack couldn’t smell him.

"You can choose something if you want," Kent said, gesturing to the remote.

Jack shook his head. "I usually catch up on all my shows at the end of the season.” He still had a few more months to go.

For some reason, that made Kent smile. "Jack Zimmermann binging TV shows? All history stuff, I guess?"

"Sometimes," Jack replied. "A lot of trashy dramas. A lot more sitcoms."

Kent raised an eyebrow. "Really?" It was a little, disheartening reminder that he didn’t know Jack at all anymore.

Jack shrugged. "It's a nice way to wind down after playing hockey for months." He let out a sigh as he thought about all the marathons he'd have at the end of the season. Alone.

Kent noticed the bit of sadness in the sigh. "Can... you show me one of your favorites?"

Jack sent him a soft smile. "Yeah, okay," he said. He pulled up the first episode of Brooklyn Nine-nine. He set the controller down between them and sat back. They would probably get done with one episode before it was time for dinner.

"Huh," Kent said as the episode started. He watched this back in his universe. He never would've thought that Jack would be into it. He sat back and watched the show along with him.

After the first episode, Alicia called them in since dinner was done. Kent stood up after Jack turned off the TV and followed him into the kitchen.

The food had already been brought to the table. He waited to see where everyone usually sat.

He froze when they all looked at him after they took their seats. He walked over and took a seat at the only empty chair. He saw Jack tense for a second before immediately relaxing. He turned to Alicia. "Thanks for making dinner," he said. "I promise I'll help tomorrow."

"Of course, sweetie," she said. "Thank you for setting the table."

"It's the least I could do.”

"Well, thank you either way," Bob said. He grabbed the salad and served some for himself before passing the bowl to Jack.

Jack put a good amount of salad on Kent’s plate, then put some salad on his own. He passed the bowl back to his dad who passed it to his mom. Jack grabbed the pasta and put a good amount on Kent's plate before putting some on his own. He then handed it over to his dad.

Kent sat in silence as Jack put the pasta on his plate. Every time he thought about grabbing one item or another, Jack was already there putting some of it on his plate before or after serving himself. He waited as Alicia poured herself and Bob some wine before handing the bottle to Jack. He watched Jack fill his glass first before pouring Kent's.

"Thanks, Jack," Kent said softly.

"Of course," Jack replied, setting the bottle down.

Kent waited for someone to take a bite of their food first before he started. The food was just like how the Zimmermanns from his universe would make for him whenever he visited. It was nice to have something so familiar in a world that wasn’t. He reached over and took a sip of his wine.

"So, Kent," Bob said after taking a bite of salad. "Tell us about yourself."

Kent coughed while the wine was going down, not realizing the conversation was going to turn to him. "I. Uh..." he said after a pause that was a little longer than he expected to give them. "Well, the Aces are currently second in the Pacific. Three points behind the Schooners. But we have two games in hand." He paused and frowned. "Had. I think I might need to start saying had."

Bob looked at Kent with a soft smile. "Okay. But, what about you?"

"I have 22 goals and 50 assists? I was injured for three weeks, so I’m a little below my average, right now."

Alicia couldn't help but laugh. She looked over to Jack with her eyebrow raised.

Jack looked at Kent for a moment before looking at his parents. "Is that what I used to sound like?" he asked.

"Exactly," Alicia said.

"Still do from time to time," Bob said.

"No, I don't."

"Sweetie, you still do. Just, not as often, thank goodness."

Kent just stared at the three Zimmermanns as Bob and Alicia lightly chirped Jack. Then Jack smiled and let out a short laugh.

“Not as often,” Jack said.

"Sweetie," Alicia said, turning back to Kent. "Why don't you tell us about you? Without hockey."

"I." Kent bit his bottom lip. "I don't really know how to talk about myself without hockey. And even if it is about hockey, I’m bad at it," he said. "It's a little sad, huh?"

"I'm sure you can, Kent," Bob said. "Tell us about your cat."

Kent looked up and smiled. "I." He sat back and stopped. "You already know my life," he said. "Everything I tell you, you'll already know from this Kent, right?"

"Not everything," Bob replied. "Besides. That Kent is not you. Please. Tell us about your cat."

Kent nodded once. "Well. Kit Purrson Jr. is a Maine Coon. Got him a couple of years ago. I think I spoil him too much."

"No such thing," Jack said with a smile.

"That's debatable," Kent replied. "Swoops always said..." He furrowed his brow as his brain changed gears. "Did... did your Kent have Kit? Where... where is he now?"

"Jeff took him in," Bob replied.

"Papa," Jack hissed.

"What?" Bob said. "I don't see how it makes any difference? It's about Kit, not Kent."

Kent let out a sigh of relief. He was worried that maybe Kit would've been taken to a shelter. Or someone else might've taken him. "But Kit is okay?"

"Your teammates almost fought over him," Bob said. "Maybe in a week, I can show you a few pictures of him."

"Papa," Jack said again.

"It's--"

"If Jack doesn't think I should, then it's okay," Kent quickly said. "I know what Kit looks like. I don't really need to see him."

Jack frowned. He looked at his parents, then back at Kent. "One week. I'll show you his Instagram."

"You really don't have to do that," Kent said. "I'm sure Kit is still the same way I remember him. Just older?"

Jack set his fork down and dragged his hand down his face. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, clicked on a few things, then set the phone down in front of Kent. "That is the most recent picture I have of him."

Kent reached over and turned the phone. "Hey, little fluff ball," he said with a smile. "Oh, you look like you've been treated well." He was relieved. He looked at the date and saw that the picture was only a few days old. That meant that Jeff was still keeping his Instagram going. He hoped that maybe his Jeff would do the same if he was really gone from the other universe. He stared at the phone for another minute before sliding it back to Jack. "Thanks."

"It's not a problem," he said, taking his phone and putting it away. "Now, finish your food."

Kent nodded and went back to eating. He finished his plate and was about to help clean up when Jack put a little bit more on it.

Instead of saying that he was done, he just silently ate and listened as Bob and Alicia talked about the next project that Alicia was a part of.

He finished his second plate and was glad when Jack didn’t put more on his plate.

"Dessert, anyone?" Alicia asked. “I bought ice cream.”

Kent looked up. "I'll take a scoop."

"Good," Alicia said. "Because I got your favorite."

"Cookie dough?" Kent said, eyes wide and bright. "Aw, Mrs. Zimms, you didn't have to."

Alicia raised her eyebrow at him. "Mrs. Zimms? Where is this coming from?" It had been years since a Kent Parson called her that.

Kent shrugged. "I... we don't exactly have that kind of relationship, do we?"

"What do you mean?" Alicia asked, trying to hide how much it hurt to have him call her that.

"Like, my Alicia, I can totally call her Alicia or Licia or the Queen Z. But I... we..." Kent dragged his hand down his face. "I don't know what we are to each other." Kent slumped his shoulders. "That sounds super rude, huh?"

"Of course not, Kenny. Kent." Bob bit his lip when he noticed he'd done what they were talking about.

"It's okay," Kent said. Hearing Bob say his name like that made it sound like he was in trouble. "How... why don't we just call each other what we're comfortable with?"

"Are you okay with us calling you Kenny?" Bob asked.

Kent took a few seconds to think about. "Yeah. That’s fine. Besides my parents and David, you're the only ones that call me that." Then he looked at Bob. "My. My family? How. How are--"

"No," Jack said, immediately. "You can't know."

"They're fine," Alicia said. "They miss you."

"Are we going to tell them? About me?" Kent asked, turning his attention to Alicia.

"It's a little more complicated than that, Kent," Alicia said. "I can't even begin to think about what to do. Do we tell them? What if you disappear in a few days and then it just makes it worse? And if we don't tell them, and you disappear? Then there’d be just so much guilt because they should've been able to see you."

"So," Kent said. "We just wait for me to disappear in a week. Or not?"

"Kenny,” Bob said. “Please. You have to understand--"

"No," Kent said softly. "It's okay. I get it. I've already caused the three of you a huge amount of grief. It’s hard enough seeing you three sad every time you look at me. The last thing I want is to do the same to my mom and dad. And brother. It'd be different if we knew that I was stuck here, but we don't know." He licked his lips as his fingers tapped the top of the dining table. He quickly pulled it away when he realized what he was doing. “If… if I make it a week, maybe we can… fly them out here?”

"That sounds like a good idea," Alicia said. She stood up and went to the freezer to grab the ice cream. Bob followed her to get the bowls and spoons.

They returned a second later and set everything down. Before Kent could move to help serve the four of them, Jack grabbed the ice cream and the scooper. Alicia laid out the bowls and Bob put a spoon in each one. It wasn't long before everyone had three scoops in their bowls.

"Thanks, Jack," he said when Jack set a bowl down in front of him.

"Of course," Jack said.

Kent took a bite of ice cream and smiled. "Man," he said softly. "I definitely wouldn't be eating this much ice cream during the season." He swallowed hard when a realization came over him.

Jack immediately noticed something was wrong. "Are you okay?"

Kent sighed and looked at Jack. "It's just. I'm in the middle of my season. Like. Is the team gonna be okay? Will I get to play if I'm stuck here?" He stirred his ice cream with his spoon. "We were doing so well."

Jack reached over and put his hand on Kent's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "How about we don't worry about these things for a week?" he said.

Kent looked over at Jack. He could feel his cheeks warming up from his touch and gaze. "You too?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't worry about all this for a week either."

"Kenny," Jack said softly. "I don't think--"

"Come on, Jack," Kent said. "What is it that you can do that I can't?"

"I can--"

"Not worry about this. One week," Kent said. "We already got one day down, so you just got six left. You probably have a billion other things to worry about with hockey and whatever. Just... it doesn't make sense for you to worry about me, you know?"

Jack frowned. "So. You don't want me to worry about you," he said. "That's not gonna happen."

"Just for a week, Jack," Kent said, rolling his eyes. "Then again, you shouldn't have to worry even past that? We just met, you know?"

"No," Jack said. "I'm not going to not worry about you. That's ridiculous."

"I just--"

"We're going to worry about you," Alicia interrupted gently. She had seen discussions like this before easily get out of hand and she knew it was easier to stop it before it did. "Asking us not to is asking too much of us. But we won't worry about this situation, okay? Because, honestly, what can we do?"

"Yeah," Kent said, sitting back in his chair. "That's. That's a lot better sounding than what I just said. Smarter too. So much smarter." He looked over when he felt a squeeze on his arm again. He hadn't realized Jack was still touching him. "Y-yeah?"

"Just eat your ice cream," Jack said, then finally pulled his hand back.

"Also, smart," Kent said. He started eating his ice cream again. If he was eating, then he wasn't saying anything wrong or dumb.

He couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault that they were eating ice cream in silence.

And they were having such a good dinner too.


	8. Chapter 8

Kent finished his ice cream first. He sat in silence as the Zimmermanns finished their bowls. It was a little awkward sitting without any of them talking. It was too quiet in the Zimmermann house.

When it looked like the three of them were done eating, he stood up and started gathering the plates to take them to the kitchen.

Jack set his spoon down and grabbed Kent’s arm one more time. "What are you doing?"

"You three made dinner," Kent said with a shrug. "I should help clean up."

"You're a guest," all three Zimmermanns said at the same time.

Kent sighed, but kept himself from rolling his eyes at them. "I can't use that excuse forever."

"One week," Bob said.

Kent knew he was going to be hearing those two words a lot. At least, if he stayed here that long. "But I can wash a dish or twelve. I do whenever I visit you two. But not you two," he said. Talking about two versions of the same people was going to be confusing.

"Kenny, please," Bob said. "We'll clean up. Just sit with us."

Jack let go of Kent's arm when he realized he was still holding onto him. "Sorry for grabbing you like that," he said softly.

"It's okay," Kent replied. He set the plates back down. "Are you really not gonna let me wash dishes?"

"Yes," Bob and Alicia said.

"Okay," Kent said, not wanting to go up against the three Alphas. Since they weren’t going to let him do anything, it felt like whatever energy he had left was sapped out of him. "Would it be okay if I go lay down for a bit?"

"You feeling okay?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah," Kent said. "I think I'm tired?"

"You think," Jack said.

"Yeah," Kent said. "Just... feels like the longest day of my life, you know?"

"You should go lie down, sweetie," Alicia said. "If you need anything, we'll be around, okay?"

"Thanks," Kent said. He looked at Jack, smiled, then made his way to the guest bedroom.

Jack wanted to follow him into the room, but he stopped himself. He stood up and started gathering the plates. He walked to the sink and immediately started washing them.

"Jack," Alicia said, moving to stand on one side of him.

Bob stood on his other side. "How are we doing?" he asked both his son and his wife.

"I'm fine," Jack said as he scrubbed a plate.

"I'm exhausted," Alicia answered. Honest because she wanted her son to be. "And worried."

"We told Kent we weren't going to worry about him,” Jack said, even though he was feeling the same things his mom felt. “I mean, this.”

“But is anyone actually going to listen to that?” Bob asked. “We can’t worry about him without worrying about what is going on here.”

“Of course we’re not going to listen,” Jack said with a hiss. There was no way he’d be able to not worry about Kent. So, for now, he was going to wash dishes.

"Jack," Alicia said. "We can clean up. You go wash up and head to bed. You've had a long day."

Jack shut off the faucet and shook his head. "I'm fine,” he said as he dried his hands.

"Jack," Bob said. "Please."

"Your day has been longer," Jack said softly. "You were with him for a few hours before I got here. You two have to be going through the same--"

"It's not the same for us and you know it," Alicia interrupted gently.

Jack slumped his shoulders. He was exhausted. He knew the moment he stopped to think about what was happening he'd collapse. He'd probably cry and not stop crying until he fell asleep. "Maman."

"It's okay, baby," Alicia said. She kissed him on his cheek.

Jack was too tired to argue with them. Instead of heading toward the stairs, he headed to the guest room to check on Kent. He needed to make sure he was okay before he focused on himself.

The door was open and the light was still on. He gave the door jamb a light tap to let Kent know that he was coming in. He looked into the room when he didn't get a response.

Kent was asleep. His legs were covered with the comforter. He looked like he hadn’t meant to fall asleep.

Jack sighed softly, but smiled. He walked into the room and turned on the bedside lamp before pulling the blanket up to Kent's chest. He leaned over, wanting to kiss Kent on his forehead, but he stopped himself. He licked his lips and put his hand on Kent's shoulder to give it a light squeeze instead.

He walked out of the room, turning off the room light and shutting the door.

He stepped into the kitchen and found his parents staring at him. "He's asleep," Jack said. He wasn't sure if he was sad or relieved about that. "I'm gonna go shower."

He went into his room to grab things to sleep in. Then he went to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He was going to be there for a little while.

Jack stripped and stepped into the shower once it was at the temperature he wanted it to be.

He stood under the spray and let it just pour over him.

Five minutes passed.

Then he started crying.

He brought his hands up to his face and pressed his wet palms into his wet eyes and shook as everything that happened today came crashing down on him.

Kent was there.

A Kent was there.

A Kent was downstairs sleeping.

And all the sadness Jack thought that he had rid himself of over the last two years was back.

As sad as Jack was, he was also unbelievably angry. As unfair as he felt it was when Kent died two years ago and as much as he wanted to see this as a blessing, this just felt like a cruelty.

Now, a Kent was staying downstairs while Jack had to keep all the secrets of his and the other Kent's life.

Losing Kent was hard, but having Kent back was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever have to live through.

He stayed in the shower for a few minutes to calm down.

He was sure he could have stayed there until the water ran cold.

But Jack knew that he couldn't stay there forever. He shut the water off, got out, dried off, then went into his room to change.

When he got back downstairs, he found his parents in the living room with picture frames in their arms. "You. You guys didn't have to do that."

"We’re just lucky he didn't think to look at them earlier," Bob said as he picked up one more picture. "We'll put them in your room."

Jack swallowed hard and felt his eyes begin to water. "I." It felt wrong to look at the wall or at the mantle and not see those pictures there. They’d been there for years, and now they were gone.

"Jack," Alicia said. "You're not hiding anything. This isn't embarrassment. You just aren't ready to share that part of yourself with this Kent. And that's okay."

Jack let out a shaky breath. He was glad that his mom understood what he was going through without him needing to say anything. "This whole thing sucks. It just... it sucks."

"We know," Alicia said. "I think I'm going to shower and sleep through the night. I'm exhausted."

"Me too," Jack said. He kissed his mom on her cheek, then did the same to his dad. "Just put them on my desk? So I can still look at them."

"Of course, sweetie," Alicia said. She looked at her husband and nodded at him. They gave the living room one more look over to make sure they got everything. Then they headed upstairs.

Jack sighed, looking at the empty places on the walls and tables and shelves where the pictures used to be, but now there was nothing. He brought his hands up and pressed his palms into his eyes to keep himself from crying again.

He went into the kitchen to grab his phone and laptop. As exhausted as he was, he wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon. Not since he had the fear that Kent, this Kent, would disappear without him knowing.

He contemplated sitting at the dining table and doing what he could to study tape and text his teammates back since he had ignored most of their messages since he arrived home. If they knew what was going on, he was sure they wouldn't have blamed him.

Instead of sitting at the table, his feet took him to the hallway that led to the guest room. He sat down, leaning against a wall. He opened up his laptop and saw the article Kent was reading was still up. He sighed and bookmarked it and the other articles for Kent to read later if he wanted.

He then pulled up something to read. He wanted to watch something, but he wanted to be able to hear if Kent moved, or woke up, or left.

He had been reading news articles for about two hours before his body finally gave into the exhaustion and he fell asleep with his laptop in his lap.

He jerked awake when he felt a kick to his legs, followed by the sound of a loud crash to the floor.

"Fuck my life."

Jack rubbed his eyes and looked around to see Kent sprawled on the ground and moving his arms under him to get up. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" Kent challenged after he made his way to his feet. "Why are you on the floor?"

"You're supposed to be sleeping."

"You’re supposed to.” Kent stopped when he realized they could end up arguing about this. “I was," Kent said. "And then I had to pee, but obviously I went the wrong way. And now I still have to pee." He sighed and stepped over Jack to go to the bathroom. He was in and out in under a minute. He looked down and saw that Jack was still on the floor. "I'm sorry. I should've looked where I was going."

Jack closed his laptop and stood up. "I shouldn't have been sitting on the floor like that." He brought a hand up to rub his eye as he let out a yawn. "I didn't think I was gonna fall asleep."

"Yeah. That wasn’t smart. You're still in season. Your back would hate you if you stayed there all night."

"I'm not heading back to the team for a few days." Not until he had a clue as to what was going on. And not until he knew if this Kent was staying.

"Yeah, but back injuries are not easy to bounce back quick from," Kent said. He remembered last season when he tweaked his back and it felt like it was never going to get better.

"I wasn't gonna stay down there all night."

"You also said you didn't think you were gonna fall asleep." Kent stepped around Jack and went straight to the fridge. He put a hand on the handle to open it, but stopped himself. He looked at Jack who had set his phone and laptop down on the island. "Is it okay if I grab a water?"

"You don't have to ask," Jack said. "Mom said to make yourself at home. You're welcome to anything here."

"Still feels weird, though," Kent said. "Might take a day or two to get used to it."

Kent opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He grabbed a second one and held it out to Jack who took it.

"Thanks," Jack said, but he didn't take a sip from his. He did watch Kent drink half of his bottle down.

"So. Why were you on the floor anyway?" Kent asked.

Jack didn't know how to answer that. Instead, he opened up the water bottle and drank more than half of it in one go. "Just wanted to make sure that you were okay. Sleeping well."

Here.

"I was just trying to get my feet warm. I didn't think I was gonna pass out. And now that I'm awake, I'm not sure how it’s possible because I just want to be asleep again."

“You should probably head back to bed, then," he said. He finished off his bottle, then threw it away in the recycling bin.

"You too," Kent said. "In your room. Not on the floor."

Jack let out a short laugh. "Yeah. Well. Maybe. I'll try."

Then the two of them stood in the kitchen five feet apart. Not saying a word to each other.

"Well," Kent said after a few minutes. "I think I'm gonna pass out. And stay passed out."

"Okay," Jack said. He swallowed hard when Kent moved back to the guest room and not toward the stairs. "Hey. Kenny?" He bit his lip as soon as the nickname left his lips. "Kent."

Kent spun around to look at Jack. "Yeah?"

"I know that you can't really... know. But. If you have to leave? Like, if you feel like you're going to. Can you... maybe. If possible..."

"I'll try to let you know," Kent said with a soft smile.

"Thanks," Jack said. He headed upstairs after he saw Kent into the bedroom and heard the door shut behind him.

Once he got to his room, he shut the door behind him. He climbed into bed after stripping down to his boxers and shutting off all the lights.

He wasn't sure if he'd actually be able to sleep. Not if Kent could disappear without warning. But he was going to try because he told Kent he would. He set his phone to wake him up at seven so he could help his parents with breakfast.

He put his phone on the nightstand, shut off his lamp, then shut his eyes. Maybe he could fall asleep.

He really hoped he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took 8 chapters to get through one day in this fic. I promise the rest won't be like this. Consider this the end of a sort of 8 chapter Prologue. 
> 
> Things should be happening a lot faster now. It's gonna be angsty. And fun.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lot longer than I expected to go between update. Oops. Enjoy!

Jack woke up an hour before his alarm clock was set to go off. He made his way downstairs after washing his face and fully waking himself up. He wanted to get a head start on breakfast.

He thought that he was being smart about it.

His parents had beat him to it.

He found them downstairs with ingredients for breakfast all over the kitchen island.

"Morning. Are you going for a run?" Alicia asked.

Jack walked over and kissed his mom on her cheek. "No, not today," he said. He should not have been slacking on his workouts, but he knew that if he had gone for a run it would not have lasted long. He had too many things on his mind. "Is." He sighed, clenching his fist for a second before relaxing it. "Is he still here?"

Bob nodded. "Yeah, son. He's still here. Still sleeping."

Jack let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. And you checked on him?"

"I did," Bob said. "I don't think he'll be waking up for some time."

"Poor thing is probably exhausted," Alicia added. "Just let him sleep."

It wasn't like Jack was going to barge into the room and wake Kent up. He was going to let Kent sleep as long as he needed to. "Can I help?" he asked after a minute of silence. He wanted to be useful. He needed to keep moving.

"You can scramble some eggs for me," Bob said. "We had omelets yesterday, but it'll be the easiest thing for me to make."

Jack nodded and went to the fridge to pull the carton out of it. He cracked three eggs for each of them into a bowl and started mixing. He had just finished adding salt when the doorbell to their house rang.

He frowned as the three of them looked toward the front door. "Are you two expecting someone?" he said softly. He looked to the hallway that led to the guest room to see if Kent heard that.

"No," Bob said.

"Make them leave," Jack said. He was not willing to risk anyone finding Kent.

"I'll go talk to whoever it is," Alicia said. "Just... make sure Kent doesn't leave the room."

"Just go answer the door," Jack said, sounding more impatient than he meant to. But there was someone at their door at 6 in the morning. He needed to know who it was and why they were there.

Alicia wiped her hands and left the two men alone. She looked through the peephole and sucked in a breath. She opened the door slowly. "Valentina," she said. "What... what are you doing here?" Kent's mother was the last person Alicia expected to see.

"Hi. Alicia," Valentina said, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "I know I should've called. And I know I really don't have any reason to do this. But I saw that Jack had flown up here on a family emergency and I was worried about you and Bob. And I just needed to see if you two were okay especially after--"

"Valentina. We're fine,” she interrupted gently. She didn’t want her to worry. Especially considering the secret she, Jack, and Bob were keeping. Alicia looked out into the driveway expecting to see Grant or David. They weren’t there. "Why don't you come in?"

Valentina sighed and stepped into the house. "David and Grant went to get something to eat. We came straight here after arriving. I'm sorry. I should've just called. But I worry."

"It's okay," Alicia said. "It's good to see you." She held her arms out and hugged her.

Valentina wrapped her arms around Alicia and held her for a moment. She unwrapped her arms and gave her a smile. "I'm glad you're doing well. I'll text Davey and have him turn around. I don't know why, but I didn't think a phone call would be enough."

"It's okay," Alicia replied. She let Valentina take off her shoes and then led her to the kitchen.

Jack froze, tightening his grip on the knife he was holding so he didn't drop it and hurt himself. He looked at his parents. "Did you call her?"

"Of course not," Bob said. "We said we'd wait a week."

"Jack, don't be rude," Alicia said.

Jack sighed and nodded. He set the knife down and walked over. "Hi, Valentina," he said, wrapping his arms around the woman. "It's good to see you."

“Hey, Jack,” she said softly, hugging him back. She took a quick inhale of him and then sighed. “I’m sorry we couldn’t make it down to watch you play the Rangers. Work and all that.”

Jack unwrapped his arms and smiled. “It’s okay,” he said. “I know you’ve been busy. We play the Aces in a few weeks. Maybe I can get you three some tickets?”

Valentina nodded. “That’d be great.” She looked over and saw they were making breakfast. “I’m sorry for just showing up like this. I just needed to make sure you were okay. I know it’s been a few years and I know we’re not fam--”

“Of course we are, Valentina,” Alicia said. “No matter what happened, we still are.”

Valentina breathed out a sigh of relief. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll get out of your hair soon. I texted Davey and he said they’re just trying to find something to eat then they’ll come back to get me.”

“You can say for breakfast,” Bob said.

Jack turned to glare at his dad. “But what about--”

“Jack,” Alicia said.

“No,” he said, knowing exactly what his mom was going to do.

“Jack,” Alicia said, a little more forceful. “What are our options?”

Jack looked at Valentina who looked so lost listening to the converation that just seemed to be going over her head. He sucked in a breath. Sometimes looking into her eyes was like looking into Kent’s. He dragged his hand down his face and sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get what he wanted.“I’m going upstairs.”

“Jack,” Alicia said. She grabbed his hand before he got too far. “You need to be here for this.”

“No. I don’t.” He sighed when his mom squeezed his hand. “I thought we’d have more time. We were supposed to have more time. This is a mess.”

“I know. But what can we do?”

Jack swallowed hard. “I don’t know,” he said, his throat tight. He let out a shaky breath and looked at Valentina. What else were they supposed to do? How could they keep this secret when Valentina was a few feet away from a Kent Parson. “Okay,” he said, resigned.

Valentina stared at the two of them not saying anything. A minute of silence was all that she could take. “Is everything okay?”

Alicia let go of Jack’s hand. They were really going to do this. “Valentina. I’m going to show you something, but. I want you to know that we don’t have any answers about how this is possible.”

“Is this your way of telling me not to freak out?”

“I’m sure that even if I said that, it wouldn’t stop you,” Alicia said. She took her bag and set it down on the dining table. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Okay.” She reached down and took Valentina’s hand and led her toward the guest room. She squeezed it before she opened the door just wide enough for her to see. Kent was still there and still deep asleep, which was good. Maybe this was for the best that he wasn’t awake yet. “He’s still sleeping,” she said, keeping her voice low.

“Who?” Valentina replied, keeping her voice as soft.

Alicia opened the door all the way so Valentina could look into the room. “Please don’t be mad. We just--”

It took Valentina all of one second to recognize who it was in the bed. “Baby? Is that my baby?” she said softly as soon as she saw his face. She let go of Alicia’s hand and walked into the room.

“Val.”

Valentina sat on the edge of the bed slowly, not wanting to wake him. She reached out with a shaky hand and ran her fingers through his hair. Soft. Always soft. “Baby.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his temple. She took a deep inhale of his scent. Something was different. But still so much the same. “Oh my god,” she whispered, then clamped her hand over her mouth. “My baby.”

Kent shifted on the bed, making the three of them freeze. He rolled over to turn his back to everyone in the room. He settled a minute later, still asleep.

No one moved until they were sure Kent wasn’t waking up.

Valentina kept her hand over her mouth, not wanting everyone to hear her start crying.

“Val?” Alicia asked.

Jack walked over and took her hand to help her stand. “We should let him sleep.”

“No,” she said, reaching out to touch him again. “I can’t--”

“Val, he had a long day. He’s exhausted. I think he needs to sleep,” Alicia said.

“I want to hold him,” Valentina said softly. “Oh my goodness.” But she didn’t want to wake him up if he needed to rest. She nodded, gave Kent one more kiss on his temple, then walked out of the bedroom, staring at Kent the entire time. She let out a sob when Alicia shut the door so that Kent could sleep without being interrupted by the conversation that was about to take place.

Jack led Valentina to the dining table and pulled out a chair. He helped her into the seat so she didn’t hurt herself. “Let me get you something to drink.”

Bob was one step ahead of him and had a bottle of water ready. He handed it to his son, then went back to cooking breakfast.

“How… how is that possible?” Valentina said letting herself finally cry. She brought her hands up to her face and wiped the tears that were falling. “My. That’s my baby boy. And he’s…”

“We don’t know,” Alicia said, taking the bottle of water from Jack and handing it to Valentina.

“My baby died. He died. We…” She covered her mouth to let out another sob. “It’s not him, is it?”

“That’s where it gets… complicated,” Alicia said.

“How? That. He. He smells like my baby. But.” She shook her head and reached for her bag. “I need to call Grant.” Her hand shook as she reached into her bag and searched for her phone. “Oh my god. Grant. He needs to know.”

“Hey,” Alicia said as she started to tear up herself. “He’s probably on his way back here already. We don’t want to rush him.”

Valentina wouldn’t have been able to call him anyway. It was hard enough to see through the tears. “I’m sorry,” she said, setting her phone down. “I just.”

“Never apologize,” Alicia said. “Not… not for this.” If the situations were reversed, she wasn’t sure how she would be handling it.

Valentina kept wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I just want to hold him. I want to lay in that bed and hold him. I don’t care if it’s him or not.”

“I know,” Jack said soflty.

Valentina looked up at Jack. “Oh,” she said. “Jack. Oh my god, I didn’t even think. Are you o--”

“No. I’m not,” Jack said honestly. “But I’ve already had a day with him. I’ve processed as much of it as I could.”

“But not enough,” Valentina said. She had no idea how much would be enough. “How is he here?”

“We don’t know,” Alicia said. “He just. He showed up on our doorstep yesterday. He thinks it’s 2018.”

“What?”

“He said it’s 2018. And…” His voice trailed off as he tried to find out how to say the next thing without sounding like he was making it up.

“What, Jack?”

“He has no idea what an omega is.”

“What. What does that mean?”

“Wherever this Kent is from, they don’t have Alphas, or betas, or omegas.”

“So, he… he isn’t anything?”

“I don’t think so,” Alicia said.

“But how is he here?” Valentina asked again even though she knew she wouldn’t get an answer. “There is a Kent Parson in the other room. My baby is in the other room.”

“But he’s not--”

“I know,” Valentina said with a little more force than she meant to. “I know. But he… I know.” She buried her face in her hands. “Oh my god. I should’ve called.”

"No," Alicia said. "We should've called you as soon as Kent showed up. But we were... we were trying to protect you."

"But you called Jack," Valentina said. There was no anger in her voice, which surprised all of the Zimmermanns. She looked over at him. "It's okay. I understand. He was my baby but he's your--"

"We should catch you up on what he knows about us and this world," Jack interrupted gently. He sat down next to Valentina. "I'm sorry we didn't call you. I thought about it a lot," he said. "Because what if he disappeared today..."

"Then it would've saved us some hurt. I think," Valentina replied. She leaned over and cupped Jack's cheeks with both hands. "I'm not mad," she said. "I don't know what you're supposed to do in a situation like this." She leaned over and kissed Jack on his forehead.

Jack pulled back to look into Valentina's eyes. "I'm just afraid that he'll disappear. And then what?"

"Then we go back to our lives," Valentina said. "But we find peace knowing that somewhere, there's a Kenny that's happy and healthy and alive."

"I think he's two out of three," Jack said with a short laugh.

"He's not happy?"

"He barely talks to his Jack," Jack replied.

"Well, I know they would've sorted it out eventually," Valentina said with a smile. She finally let go of Jack's face. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Now," she said. "Start from the beginning. Tell me what he's told you."

"Are you sure you don't want to wait for Grant and David to get here?" Jack asked.

Valentina shook her head. "No, no. I need to know. I can't wait for them."

Jack nodded and looked toward the guest room before sighing. "Maman can start, and I'll fill in what I know." His mom was the better storyteller. And she was there from the moment Kent showed up.

Jack told Valentina about how different this Kent, at least when it came to how he reacted to Jack. "He is just so cautious," he said sadly. "I don't know if it's because of me, or if it's because he’s in a new place. Or if it’s just how he is."

"Hopefully we'll have time to figure it out," Valentina said.

"Do you think he's staying?" Jack asked.

"I don't know," Valentina said. "There has to be a reason he's here."

"I don't want to think about what that reason could be."

"Why not?" She looked at Jack and sighed. She knew why he was hesitant and didn’t want to think further than today. "He could disappear."

"I have so many walls up, right now. He doesn't even know what our Kent was to me."

"Are you going to tell him?"

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I don’t know why it’d matter if I told him or not. But it feels so unfair to have to hide my Kent. He was important to me. Us. Here. But I can’t tell him anything because what if he leaves and takes that back to his Jack.” He ran his hands down his face again. “But why would it matter. What would it even change? He’s not even talking to his Jack, right now.”

“Well, we know from this Kent that not all universes are the same. Maybe in that one you two--”

“No,” Jack said, slapping the top of the dining table. He curled up his hand and relaxed it when he realized that he’d scared his and Kent’s mom. “Désolé,” he said. “But. I know that I love him in every universe. I just know it.”

“Jack,” Alicia said.

He shook his head. He didn’t need to be comforted, right now. “We have one week before we have to answer all his questions if he has any. So I’m not worrying about that until then. And you shouldn’t either.”

“I just. I don’t know how I’m supposed to treat him,” Valentina said softly. “He’s a stranger. Right?”

“He’s so much like our Kent. There’s a lot of similarities,” Jack said. “He’s not really a stranger.”

“But he’s not my baby.”

“No, he’s not,” Jack said softly.

The sound of the guest room door opening caused all of them to tense and look in its direction.

Kent walked out of the room, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Smells like mangoes,” he said loudly. “Or pineapples. And ham.” He finished rubbing his eyes and looked at the people in the kitchen, blinking a few times to clear his vision. He sucked in a breath when he saw who was sitting with Jack and Alicia. “M-mom?”

Valentina stood up with tears clouding her vision again as soon as he spoke to her. That was her son standing in front of him. Her baby.“Hi, baby,” she said softly, holding her arms open to him.

“Mom,” Kent said softly and walked into her arms. He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck and let out a sob. “Mommy.”


	10. Chapter 10

Valentina wrapped her arms around Kent and just held him. She brought a hand up to the back of Kent's head and let out a shaky breath. "It's okay, baby," she said softly. She let out a sob when she felt a wetness on her neck. "It's okay."

Kent sniffled as he shook his head, still hiding his face. Then he pulled away. "Fuck," he said. He brought both hands up to his face to dry his cheeks. "I'm so sorry," he said softly. He took a step back and away from his mom's hold. He sighed, needing to remind himself that this wasn’t his mom.

"Why. Why are you apologizing?" Valentina asked, wiping her face with her jacket sleeve.

"That," Kent said softly. "That wasn't okay." He dragged a hand down his face. "You're not my mom. I know you're not my mom. I shouldn't have just hugged you like that."

"What are you talking about?”

"I'm not your Kent," Kent said sadly.

"Does it look like I give a damn?" Valentina said with a little more force than she meant to. She reached out and took Kent's hand. "There is a Kent Parson standing in front of me. And he's crying. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to hug you and it's not going to be wrong. Unless you don’t want me to hug you."

Kent did want that. So badly. He brought his free hand up to wipe his face dry. "I'm sorry that I'm not him," he said softly.

Valentina reached up and wiped his cheek. "Don't ever apologize for that," she said. She pulled him down and kissed him on his cheek. "Come sit with me?" she asked.

"I don't think--"

"Kent Valerian Parson. Please. Come sit with me." She gave a light tug on his hand. "Just for a few minutes."

Kent swallowed hard. He nodded, unable to find his voice. He followed his mom. Not his mom. He followed her into the living room. "I--"

"Sh..." Valentina shushed gently. "You don't have to say anything." She sat down on the couch and tugged Kent to sit down next to her. When he did, she reached up with her free hand and cupped his cheek. "You look tired."

"It was a long day yesterday," Kent said.

"No," she said softly. "It's more than that." She reached up to brush his hair out of his face. "Your curls are showing." She dropped her hand back down.

Kent let out a short laugh. It had been a little longer than usual between haircuts. "Wanted to try something new," he replied. He reached up and rubbed his eye with the palm of his free hand. Even though he had just woken up, he was still so tired. "I'm sorry I'm not him," he said again. “Seeing me. Like this. Can’t be easy.”

"Sh..." Valentina shook her head. "It's okay. I know you're not him. And this isn’t easy. But it doesn't change the fact that you need some looking after and I'm here."

"You don’t have to. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you."

"Yeah," she said. "It is. And it’ll be harder once I actually process all of this. But I have my husband. And Davey. You don't have anyone here."

"I have Bob and Alicia. And Jack." But he was not sure how long he had them for.

Valentina nodded. "You do, sweetie. And now you have me."

Kent wasn't sure why those words made tears start forming in his eyes again. "Fuck," he said, wiping them from his face. "I'm sorry. I'm just--"

"It's okay," Valentina said, pulling him close and letting him tuck his face into the crook of her neck again. "It's okay, baby. I got you."

"I'm not--"

"I know," she interrupted gently. "But I still got you."

Kent wrapped his arms around her as well as he could sitting on the touch. He pulled away so he could wipe his face. "Thanks," he said softly. He took a few seconds to inhale deeply and exhale slowly to recenter himself. "I'm guessing they told you everything?"

"As much as they could," Valentina said. "I feel like everyone here has a secret or two that they need to keep."

"That's okay," Kent said. He wasn’t going to push for anyone to reveal their secrets. He squeezed Valentina's hand. "So. How are you? I mean, you can answer in the vaguest way possible," he said. "I think we have a week before we actually have to be real with each other, here." He looked up at Jack who was standing off to the side watching them.

"Everything is mostly the same, I imagine," Valentina said. "I still work at the school. Your dad still works at the hospital. I just. You know. Now run a charity in your name." She looked up over Kent's shoulder. "Alicia helps with that a lot."

"Oh, stop," Alicia said, sitting down on the other side of Kent on the couch. "You do all the hard work. I just have my name attached to it."

"Either way," Valentina said. "That charity helps a lot of people. A lot of omegas that want to get into hockey." She reached up to cup Kent's cheek again.

Kent leaned into the touch and sighed. "I'm sure your Kent would be really proud of what you're doing."

"I hope so."

Kent reached up with his free hand and pulled Valentina's hand away from his face. As much as he felt like he needed the touch, it was almost too much. They were talking like they were catching up after not seeing each other for a few weeks, but it wasn’t that. This version of his mom had lost her Kent. And he’d been dead for four years. He had no idea how either of them had stopped crying.

"Will you be staying awhile?" he asked, his tone hopeful.

"I wasn't really planning on it," Valentina said. "I wanted to check on Jack and make sure he was okay. I thought I'd only be here for three days at the most."

"You could stay," Alicia said.

Kent turned his body and leaned back against the couch so he could see both of them. He stayed silent, unsure of what to say. He did want Valentina to stay, but he wasn't sure how it would work.

"I... I want to," Valentina said. "But I have to talk to Grant and David."

"You can stay here as long as you need to, Val," Alicia said. "It'll be good to have more people Kent is familiar with around him, right?"

"But does this actually count?" Kent asked.

"Yes," Alicia and Valentina said at the same time.

Kent let out a short laugh. There was no way he was going to go up against both of them in an argument and win. "Yeah, okay," he said. He leaned his head back to look up at the ceiling. "This is happening too fast. Making my head hurt." He reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And I really, really want a mango smoothie."

Alicia and Valentina looked at each other. "Why... why would you say that?" Valentina asked.

"I don't know," Kent said. "When I woke up I smelled something fruity and now--" He stopped talking when he heard a knock on the door. He knew exactly who was at the door by that knock. "I should hide."

Jack put his hand on Kent's shoulder and squeezed to keep him in place. He disappeared down the hallway to answer the front door. "Grant. David."

"Jack. It's good to see you."

Kent tensed at the sound of his dad's voice. He sat up and looked at the hall. "I should hide," he said again softly.

"No, baby," Valentina said.

"We're just here to pick up Val," Grant said. "She hasn't been answering our texts so I'm guessing it's on silent again."

"I... she's in the living room. You should come in. Dad is making breakfast. He always makes too much."

"Jack," Kent said softly. Things were about to spiral. And fast.

"Mom?" David called, leading the way into the house. He froze when he saw who was sitting on the couch with her. It only took him a second to realize what was going on in front of him. "What the fuck is this?"

"Davey," Valentina said, standing up. She reluctantly let go of Kent's hand and walked around to the couch to get to him. "Calm down."

"Who the hell is that?" he yelled, pointing to Kent. "Why is there a guy sitting there on the couch with Bean’s face on his face."

"David, why are you..." Grant's voice trailed off when he saw why his son was yelling. "Bean?"

Kent felt tears forming in his eyes again at being called his nickname by a man who was but wasn’t his dad. "I... I'm not," he said softly. He stood up. "Sorry. I just... I need a second." He walked out of the living room without looking at anyone and headed down the hallway back to the guest bathroom. He shut the door behind him and locked it. He needed a few minutes before he had to face his entire family. Well, not his family. Just some people that looked like his family.

He turned the water on and let it run. After a few minutes, he washed his face, then dried it off. It was another few more minutes before he was ready.

He opened the door and sighed. It was now or never. He walked into the kitchen and saw that Bob wasn't at the stove cooking. He figured that he had gone to talk with the Parsons.

"Do not talk to us like that," Jack said.

"Davey, he's only been here a day. They didn't have time."

"That's not an excuse," David said. "Kent shows up, we should've been the first people you called."

“It’s not him, Davey,” Valentina said.

"Don't talk to my parents like that."

"Fine. I’m sorry. But you should've called us, Jack. It is absolute bullshit that we had to find out this way."

"And what would I have said?"

"I don't know! But just because he was your husband and mate doesn’t give you the right to try and keep this a secret. He is our family. You should've called us."

Kent felt his blood run cold when he heard what David said.

Husband?

Mate?

He couldn't face any of them now. He headed toward the sliding door that led to the back of the house and opened it as quietly as he could. He slipped outside and shut the door. He hoped no one would come after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be a little bit before I post the next chapter. I figured 10 chapters would be a good time for me to go back and tighten up the previous ones. I will try not to take too long.
> 
> Stay safe. And Happy Holidays everyone!


	11. Chapter 11

As soon as Kent made his way around the massive house and to the driveway, he knew that there was nowhere for him to go. He didn't have a license. And even if he did, it wasn't like he had the keys to any of the cars in the driveway.

Besides, where would he have gone?

He saw that someone had moved the car he had woken up in up the driveway. He walked over and pulled at one of the handles for the back row. He was grateful that it was unlocked. He climbed in and shut the door behind him.

He dragged his hand down his face, then turned to curl up in the backseat. It wasn't the most comfortable position to be in, but at least he had a moment of privacy. 

Jack was married to this world's Kent.

They were mates.

What the hell was he supposed to do with that information?

That explained the kiss. And why Jack was having such a hard time looking at him. And why when Kent brought up anything about this world's Kent Jack got defensive. 

He was protecting his mate.

"Fuck," Kent said softly, pressing his palms into his eyes. 

He needed to leave. He couldn't stay here. But also had no idea where he could go. He was dead. Well, not him. But that didn't make it any less complicated. He also knew that no matter what plan he could come up with would never work. He was stuck here, with Jack and Jack's parents, and a set of Parsons that weren't his Parsons.

He thought that he had hit his limit, but he knew that he wasn’t even close now.

_Jack was married to this world’s Kent._

_They were mates._

He wasn't sure how long he had been lost in his thoughts, but he was jolted out of them when the driver's side door opened. He didn't move to look at who it was. He sat still as the person got into the driver's seat, rocking the car a bit. He didn't say anything as the door was shut and the two of them sat in the car. 

After a handful of minutes, Kent felt like he needed to say something. He just didn't know what he could say.

"Do you remember that time you came to watch me play a few pick up games with my college teammates and you had to jump in because someone didn't show up?"

Kent did remember. He remembered how excited, but nervous he was to play with his older brother and his teammates. "Your teammates were such dicks about it,” he replied with a laugh. "They didn't take me seriously because I was so small."

David laughed. "Joke was on them, huh? You fucking lit them up whenever you touched the puck."

"I think they were just caught off guard. Never seen me play before, you know?"

"That didn't stop you from scoring a hat trick the first game."

Kent smiled. "I had fun seeing that center. What was his name? Colton?"

"Colfax."

"Yeah. That guy. He got more pissed every time I touched the puck. He did not appreciate getting scored on. He was kind of mean."

"Called you a little omega bitch."

"See, that didn't happen," Kent said, sitting up. "At least. Not the omega part."

"But what about the part where I jumped him?"

"Only after he tried to jump me," Kent said. "Not smart of me, though. That guy was fucking huge. Laid me out with one hit."

"Yeah, well. I pummeled his ass for you," David said. 

"Yeah. You always had my back," Kent said with a fond smile.

David finally turned around and looked at Kent. "So, you remember all that."

"Of course I did. I lived it. Sort of." They had the same memories. Just one small detail was different.. 

"But you're not him?" David said sadly. 

"Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?

Kent laid back down and stared up at the ceiling of the car. "It feels like it's the only thing I can say. I pop into this world where a version of me is dead. And now all I'm doing is just causing two families a shit ton of grief."

“Not your fault. Not like you asked to be thrown into a parallel universe.”

“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't.” Kent reached up and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Fuck.”

David turned around to look at him. “You okay?”

No, he wasn’t. But he couldn’t tell him that. “I just… had a thought.” Many thoughts, actually. But, with a guy who looked like his older brother who always took care of him sitting a few feet away, only a few thoughts were front and center. 

“About?”

“Nothing.” It was hitting him a lot harder to see members of this Kent’s family here. His family. But not his family. This universe’s Kent was dead. And this family was dealing with it. 

“Bean.”

He lifted his hands from his eyes at the nickname and stared at the ceiling of the car. “What if I'm supposed to die in every universe at 29?” He winced after he said it. He wasn’t sure where that thought came from and why he felt the need to ask that out loud. He knew David wouldn’t have the answer. 

“Don’t,” David said, with almost a growl. “Don’t fucking say that.”

“What if it’s true?”

“It’s not.”

Kent sat up and looked at David who was watching him. “I could die in two years. Here or if I ever get back to where I’m from.”

“You won’t. I’ll fight God If I have to.”

“Davey.” Kent wanted to hate how easily the nickname slipped from his lips.

David shifted his entire body in the front seat so that he could look at Kent. He looked right into his eyes. “I’m fucking serious. Because fuck him for taking our Kent away from us once. And then to bring you back here only to take you away again? I’ll fight him. I’ll fucking win too.”

“David.”

“Just like I did Colfax. Just like I did to anyone who messed with you.”

Kent wanted to tell him that he wasn’t the Kent that he was this protective over all those years ago. But what difference would it make? “What if I go back to where I was?”

“I don’t know. But, while you’re here, nothing is happening to you. I swear. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, Davey. I know.” There was an undeniable amount of relief that had flowed through him after David had said it. He knew that this David couldn’t do much, but just to hear him say it, after hearing it his entire life, was reassuring.

“So, until you’re ready, we can stay out here. And whenever you’re ready I’ll talk to mom and dad.”

“Mom,” Kent said softly. “Your mom is probably crying in there, huh?” He started feeling guilty. If she was crying, it was his fault.

“No. Not right now. Right now she’s freaking out because no one knows where you are.”

“Oh. Fuck. They think I disappeared.”

“Yeah. You sneaking out the back like that was kinda a dick move.”

“I wasn’t thinking.” The only thing he could remember thinking was that he needed to just get away for a minute or two. He needed to be away from both families to be able to think about what he had just learned about Jack and this Kent’s relationship. “You found me, though.”

“Yeah, because you’ll always go hide in the backseat of the nearest unlocked car. “

Kent let out a laugh. It’s nice to know that there was some part of him that was still predictable in this world. “I’m sorry. But I can’t go back in there. Not yet.”

“I figured it’s a lot. Us being here.”

“No. I mean. Yeah. But that’s not it.”

“What else is there?”

Kent sighed, and flopped back to lay across the backseat. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to focus on what he wanted to say. He wasn’t sure if he should mention it. He wasn’t supposed to hear it. It ws an accident that he did. But, he couldn’t ignore it now that he knew it. “I didn’t know they were married,” he said softly. 

“What?”

“They didn’t tell me that, which is fine. I just thought they were dating or something.”

“You just found out they were married just now?” David asked slowly. 

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Because you have a big mouth.”

Kent sat up quickly, careful not to hit his head on anything. He saw Jack leaning against the car where his feet were. “Jack?” How did he not notice Jack was right there?

Jack bent over and looked at David. “I need to talk to Kent.”

“He’s not your mate.”

“He’s not your brother either.”

“We’re closer to being family than you are to being married to him,” David countered.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t matter. There’s a reason he ended up here in our driveway and not in yours.”

“That doesn’t mean--”

“Stop,” Kent said with a groan. He dragged his hands down his face. “Let me talk to him, Davey. Already spent a day with him. I’ll be fine.”

David looked up and made eye contact with him in the rearview mirror for a few seconds before breaking it. “Fine,” he said, pointing to the front door. “I’m gonna wait right there. I’ll be watching the entire time. You need something, just yell my name.”

Kent rolled his eyes even though he knew David wouldn’t be able to see it. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I do.”

“I’ll be okay. Go tell mom… your mom and dad where I am.” They probably weren’t worrying anymore if they noticed that Jack and David weren’t in the house. “And let them know to come outside in a bit. I think I’ll want to talk to them after.”

“Okay.” David got out of the car and walked around it to stand in front of Jack. “If you do anything to upset him.”

“Davey,” Kent said, leaning forward to try and push him away but he couldn’t lean far enough. He was nervous about how far David would take his promise to make sure nothing happened to him. 

“He’s fine,” Jack said, unbothered.

“Damn Alphas, always answering for omegas. I want to hear it from him.”

“Last I checked, you were an Alpha too, David,” Jack said, again his tone monotonous.

David was an Alpha too? Well, that was something new he learned. Unfortunately he couldn’t dwell on it. Not yet.

“Cut it out,” Kent said, scooting. “Oh my god.” He reached through the window to push David toward the house. 

David stepped out of the way of the push. “I’m gonna go talk to mom and dad. And then I’ll be right back.”

Kent sighed. He wasn’t going to argue with him. “Okay.” He watched as David didn’t immediately head toward the front door. 

“You take care of him, Jack,” David said softly.

“Always.”

Kent stared at the two of them for a second. Well, that was confusing. He watched David finally head to the front door and walk into the house. He watched as Jack walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat. “Do you guys not like each other?” he asked after a moment of silence.

Jack turned around to look at Kent. “We love each other. We’re family.”

“Oh.” He said it as a response to what Jack said, because they apparently _were_ family. And because of how easily Jack had said it. There was no hesitation.

He and the Parsons of this world were family.

“I guess I have a lot of explaining to do,” Jack said after he turned around to look out the windshield.

“You don’t have to. We can wait for the week.” There is no way either of them could have been prepared for the three Parsons to show up. That definitely messed up their timeline. 

“No. There’s no sense waiting now. Unless you want to.”

“You can decide, Jack. Are you sure you want to tell me?”

“I do. I think I’ve wanted to from the moment I saw you and realized you weren’t my Kenny.”

Hearing Jack call this Kent that made Kent’s heart drop to his stomach. 

Kent was his husband.

His mate.

 _His_.

“Okay,” he said when he was sure he could get the word out as normal sounding as he could. “Are you sure?” He wanted to give Jack an out if he wanted to take it. 

“I. I need you to know what he meant. Means to me. Before you hear it from anyone else. Before you read something on the internet. I need you to hear it from me. Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes.”

Kent wished he felt more sure about his answer.

It was too late to turn back now.


End file.
